Construct laborers?

[Emo Duck]

I'm currently playing a character with the Craft Construct feat, and one of my ambitions is to have a sizeable crew of general manual laborers suitable for construction, mining, lumberjacking, or whatever large-scale odd job one would need laborers for. But which construct is best for this purpose?

I rather had my eye on the Dedicated Wright from ye olde D&D 3.5 Eberron book, but seeing as they're homunculi, I run the risk of taking 2d10 damage per worker if some evil wizard decides to fireball them all.

I basically need to find the cheapest constuct capable of having ranks in the Craft or Profession skill. Any suggestions?

[Bob Bob Bob]

Depends, how... creepy evil are you willing to go? Because after homunculus, Soulbound Dolls are the next cheapest. They're just explicitly a fragment of a creature's soul, stripped of its personality and forced into a doll. So maybe a little more evil overlordish than you're looking for? The upgrade is the Soulbound Mannequin. If both of those are too evil there's always the brain in the jar option (Bioconstruct Modification) but that's pretty pricey at 22,750 gp. It is slightly terrifying that the "least evil" option is putting someone's brain in a jar and stuffing it in golem.

[The Sideromancer]

7k gives you an intelligent clockwork servant and only has the normal ethical problems with creating intelligent life, no messing with souls required

[Emo Duck]

Yeesh, 7000 gold pieces for a single worker seems steep too. Not that constructs were ever cost-effective.

Can mindless constructs even attempt Craft/Profession checks? I guess without a modifier they'd at least be able to take 10 for a result of 10... Maybe under an intelligent foreman construct of some sort.

[The Glob]

Since you can use 3.5, want cheap, crafting capable and also avoid damage, Clockwork Mender from monster manual IV is probably the best.

They suck for strength so you might want either a labour force made up of followers, undead or a few more expensive but strong golems

[Ectar]

Grab leadership and nab a cohort that is an investigator with the Majordomo archetype. They can pass around bonuses to things and share feats like coordinated crafting and such.

[Lincoln Hills]

Because Soulbound Dolls actually have an Intelligence, they're probably the go-to construct for Craft. Just give each one a specific Craft and have the rest of the gang use Aid Another. And while catching fragments might require sitting by a few deathbeds, you won't be out grave-robbing as you'd have to for so many other constructs.