Well, I know 2 of those families. They are wealthy independent of building temples. They happen to run good businesses, earned and scaled up over time. They happen to be LDS members who are trusted to build temples because they deliver high quality, and almost more importantly, a very fair price. They do all kinds of hidden things behind the scenes that other contractors won't do, such as donating land for free. None of the "exposes" have answered the one question that matters - what margin do they charge the church? The projects may be big, and with *any* margin some may cry foul at bottom line dollars, but my opinion is any random GC would charge a higher margin.Dr. Shades wrote: ↑Tue Jul 25, 2023 5:55 amIn that case, educate me: Why are the companies owned by general authorities’ family members always the ones to get the sweetheart contracts and not random general contractors?
One family I know did a key part of all Utah temples prior to 1990. They had a massive operation. Temples was a small part of it, like icing on the cake that brought meaning and social status among fellow Mormons. But the family's wealth derived from running a good business, period. Also, what wealth there was has since dissipated after the founder died. It was barely enough to buy homes for his kids and pay for grandchildren to attend college. There is plenty of material to look at with mistrust, but my experience says the general contractors on temples isn't one worth getting anyone's panties in a twist.