You would not get a billion dollars from that. Someone else would see your mill and make their own mill. A thousand other people, in fact, if there was a billion to be made, so each would get a million, or less. The intense price competition would also bring your profits to near zero.
But if I were first and built them better, continually being at the forefront of mill construction, it might be enough to make 0.001% of my nation’s GDP for a few years.
That's labor. It's hard to stay at the forefront of mill construction. Really really really hard and it creates real value out of real labor, so there's no contradiction.
You couldn't do it by yourself. A team of people could, and if they shared the billion, none of them would have a billion, but if you were the company owner and got to keep 50%, but your team of a hundred made two billion, you'd be a billionaire but not because you earned it.
