It's all in the overhead.
A generation (or maybe two generations) ago, a "contractor" was a guy who had worked in a trade or three, knew how to do the work, and had either made his way up the ladder into management or had split off and started his own company.
Today, it's all MBA types. I was poking through the classifieds in the daily bird cage liner just yesterday. No jobs for construction workers but any number of openings for "project managers." The prerequisites? Must have excellent working knowledge of MS Office apps, including Excel, and experience with MS Project and Timberline software.
I see it in the field all the time. Go on a site today and you don't deal with anyone who actually understands how to build anything, or what a code requirement is. The only thing they understand is whether or not they're ahead of their hopelessly optimistic critical path. Mention that the approved plans call for 5/8" Firecode sheetrock and they've just unloaded two truckloads of 1/2" non-Firecode and their eyes glaze over.
PM: "Is that a problem?"
Me: "Only if you expect to get a certificate of occupancy so you can sell this place when it's finished."
Went by a car dealership undergoing a major showroom alteration the other day. Big new, monumental stair out in front, gotta be at least 8 feet high from the bottom to the entrance/exit door. It's been "finished" for three weeks, but nobody ever called for an inspection. They're using it every day. It's the main exit. There's a double door for the exit, and there isn't a handrail within 15 feet of the exit path.
PM: "Is that a problem? We need handrails?"
Me: "Doesn't this plan, that was approved by the building department at town hall, show handrails? Where are they?"
PM: "Oh. Well, is it okay if they just keep using the stairs without railings for awhile?"
Me: "Your call. And the first time somebody slips and breaks a leg, they hire an ambulance chaser attorney, who hires a 'forensic investigator' who visits town hall and sees no inspections and no certificate of occupancy, and your liability insurance carrier walks away. Do as you wish. Have a nice day -- Sir."
I don't know where they get these guys. How they ever made it through college and graduate school is a mystery, as I would never have let them go beyond junior high school. But ... they all pull down major salaries, wear laundry-washed, pressed and starched shirts, and drive BMWs. That's why the American contractors aren't competitive. It's because they've universally injected a couple or three totally useless and universally incompetent layers of overhead to their operations.