Public Construction - Done Right

From A History of the World in 6 Glasses:

"The workers who built the pyramids were paid in beer, according to records found at a nearby town where the construction workers at and slept. The records indicate that at the time of the pyramids' construction, around 2500 BCE , the standard ration for a laborer was three or four loaves of bread and two jugs containing about eight pints of beer..."

Ok. 4,500 years ago state workers created stone monuments that have lasted for the ages. And according to the historical records, they were drunken state workers at that.

Am I missing something here? How is it that the pharaohs were better at public works than we are?