1 million new construction

Mar 8, 2026 2:00 AM

CitizenK9

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24930

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593

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7

That ain't right.

5 months ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

5 months ago | Likes 17 Dislikes 0

if you squint its mint

5 months ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

When we built our house in 1998, there were definitely some minor issues, like features with right angles that weren’t.

HOWEVER, we had to replace our oven when it crapped out during the pandemic. The day before delivery, an installation team used their fiber-optic system to check behind the old oven to see what they’d need to do to install the new one.

…and found a tangled mass of wires with exposed ends dangling in the space behind the appliance- some of which turned out to be live.

5 months ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 0

This is why I don't want a new house, I want a house that has survived at 2-3 decades in my area. That way it has seen some sh*t and has come through. We have had tornadoes, ice storms, winds enough to rip roofs off, and variable weather more fickle than my family.

5 months ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 1

Sounds like a good idea until you're tracing wiring because you're getting 110v at the water heater when the breaker is on because the house originally had fuze boxes instead of breaker boxes and the owner who updated it 20yrs ago pulled all but one breaker box on one half of the water heater supply.

Old houses are a nightmare. New construction can be shit but at least you're not worried about aluminum wiring or 40yrs of shitty repairs and maintenance.

5 months ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 3

Yeah, and when you go to replace the kitchen floor you realize the back of the kitchen is 2" lower than the front... And the joist holding your first floor up are anywhere from 12 on center to 20 (and the boards are somewhere between 2" - 4" wide)... And the wall is so crooked, you have to put the countertops into the wall to make it look straight... And modern appliances simply don't fit into the spaces the old ones were in

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Can confirm. Wife and I bought a house built in the late 70s and found our fair share of "Handy Andy" style updates that had to be professionally corrected. Not to mention general repairs because the house is 50 years old.

Imagine converting a garage into a living space and decidedly *not* grounding the outlets even though you're installing 3-prong receptacles. That was a fun surprise we didn't think we needed to be wary of when buying the home.

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Urgh, Linoleum only belongs in hospitals, dentists and the like. Looks so cheap in private dwellings.

5 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

REAL linoleum from the 3='s through 40's can still be walked on today if not physically damaged. pretty sure you mean vinyl

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Eh, still looks chintzy

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Youve never seen the fancy shit with inlays and borders, etc

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

will try to find a link

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Just paint over it

5 months ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 0

The landlord special

5 months ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

or house flipper

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Enjoy your seven-figure trailer.

5 months ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

I mean I'm lazy sometimes but only putting one screw in the door hinge is really next level

5 months ago | Likes 115 Dislikes 1

They come wth all the screws installed. My bet is the trim carpenter took them to secure the closet rods.

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

It's not even 1 crew that was the framers, roofers, electricians, like every single one of them didn't give a shit at all.

5 months ago | Likes 50 Dislikes 0

Yeah, but thats a much cheaper/easier repair than that roof. It basically needs to be redone, and a job like that is tens of thousands.

5 months ago | Likes 21 Dislikes 0

That one made me laugh the most. Looks like they even drilled a pilot hole for one more screw but then just gave up.

5 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

I'm just a weekend warrior, but I cannot imagine why you would drill a pilot hole in this situation if you have the correct screw. Looks more to me like they put a screw in and took it back out.

5 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

Those screws are usually a bit bigger than normal. I like to pilot hole them, just to be on the safe side. But yeah, could have put a screw in and removed it too.

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

So glad we're still building houses for someone to "invest" in rather than for people to live in.

5 months ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 1

As a european, ive never seen cheap engineering as i have in the us. homes are built for grandeur with no regard for quality and materials

5 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

That house is here for a good time. Not a long time.

5 months ago | Likes 62 Dislikes 0

Much like the contractors

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

The good time is for the developer, HOA, and GC grifters that just maximized their profits.

5 months ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 0

And in 3years after it burned down, they can do it again

5 months ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

As someone who works with trades- the builders are responsible for FAR MORE of this than the trades are.

Some of the plans are drafted badly or without functional thought.

My favorite mistake is a stacked washer dryer combo at the top of stairs, bottoms of stairs, or in the FRONT CLOSET.

5 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

This is happening a lot because… design is messing up with measurements and the builders don’t get paid to care. On top of that who cares about a million dollar home. Pay someone to fix it ya pencil pusher.

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

they wave in that wall could have been hidden by a decent trim guy and a drywaller willing to throw an extra bucket of mud on the wall

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

If I spent a million bucks on a house I'd expect it to be FLAWLESS. If I saw any of this on my home I'd be absolutely livid.

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I hand customers a roll of blue tape for imperfections, but still have to compete on price. there may be some negotiation on minor cosmetic stuff

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

"Don't do that"

5 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

That ain’t right!

5 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

Makes me appreciate my little 1955 house

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Seriously if you're spending on a brand new permanent home, use an architect. Design specific for the site, regular construction visits, and a punch list for the contractor to fix every single flaw before being occupied.
Too many crappy overpriced homes get built this way today because of cutting out any and all architect contributions.

5 months ago | Likes 29 Dislikes 1

architects add cost, and engineer could have prevented that damage

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

One of the things I found really odd when I started working in new construction was how little information is on your average blueprint. Like the basics of the structure are there, but an awful lot is left up to the discretion of the contractors because the architects and draftsman didn't bother, or weren't paid for details.

You can gather a whole lot of information about the quality of a builder by the quality of their prints.

5 months ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

Residential prints have a tendency to be very vague... A lot of "design and build" is left to the interpretation of the contractors... A quality GC and craftsmen that actually give a shit can make all the difference...

But again, that "give a shit" boils down to compensation, generally...

5 months ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

I work in the very high end of residential new construction. Builders who operate in the same price point produce very different qualities of build.

Sure, having contractors that care about quality of work makes a huge difference, and that often comes down to not going with the lowest bidder.

But an awful lot of fuckery can be avoided by having actual plans before you break ground.

5 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

the tradespeople know the code and the inspector enforces it. the architect does the DESIGN, that shower glass shouldn't have hit the toilet if there was a designer. inspectors miss stuff so hire your own

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

The architect doesn't usually do design in that sense. The architect may say that there's a shower and a toilet and roughly where those should be, but an interior designer is selecting things like shower enclosures and what kind of toilet is going to be installed. Those two designers aren't the same people.

If the builder starts out with interior design selections working with the architect and engineer these things can be planned for in advance saving everyone time and money.

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

despite architecture being one of my incomplete college majors, I will hire a designer and engineer every time that a customer has a good idea what they want. it will save them many thousands of dollars at a minimum. there is a potential downside of not having truly complete plans, but people ALWAYS make changes. Also, as a remodeler (primarily) do you know how often architects fail to get elevations or roof pitches correct and it has expensive implications for the homeowner? at least 30%,,,

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Ya. No plan survives the first walkthrough with the homeowner intact. Changes and reselections are usually billable if there's a plan and a good contact though.

Then again I do new builds, warranty, and service for homes we've built almost exclusively. If we take on a remodel, it's usually an upgrade to a build we did the original work on a few years before.

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

Granted there are architects and engineers that go a little overboard on their prints, when they don't necessarily know the granular details that they're asking for. They can't be expanded to know everything about every trade, but I'd much rather bid that job. It shows that the general contractor actually cares about the end result.

I've worked on an awful lot of overpriced McMansions. I've also worked on an awful lot of actual mansions. There's a difference between price and value.

5 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Every single person I've known that had a house built ultimately had to sue the builder, with the exception of the one that used an architect's firm.

In the end, even he had to make compromises. But the people he hired were honest and willing to work with him when things didn't meet expectations.

5 months ago | Likes 19 Dislikes 1

I see, the gringos have finally started to do the construction work the migrants used to. https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1aWI2anp1MGhtamphdnNqeTkxejhkcmV6Y29rajAwMWhldGIwMGRsOCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/cOvgh3VjLmeg8LLBtk/200w.webp

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Chingon! We've been here the whole time working with them. there are good and bad tradespeople of every race or persuasion

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I fucking love these. I did not pay anywhere remotely close to this for my house, but for the price I expected at least a little bit of effort from the workers but I kid you not I've run into some similar issues in my house. I could peel the wood trim off the walls with my fingers.
It's great to have more material when my friends ask me if they should buy a house. Um sweetheart you need to see this.

5 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

A mil for a neighbor so close they can hand you a roll of tp out their window. No thanks

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

wow

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Good quality large house 18 years old. Very intricate "wedding cake" ceiling in main living area makes access to north 1/3 of the attic almost impossible. That part (master and guest BR) have always been VERY cold. Heavy insulation visible in accessible areas. Paid two different HVAC companies over $10K over the years - no difference. Wife insisted "get more insulation" (Useless but OK for her sake) Contractor went up to estimate and said "I can't get over there -joisting is too intricate" 1/2

5 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

2/2 Sent for his guy "Tony" who is about 5' 2". Tony goes up and after a long while returns "I was able to snake my way over there. Here's what I saw." - Shows a picture of rafters over bare raw sheetrock. "There is absolutely NO -ZERO insulation over there. The original guy knew no one could get over there to check, so he pocketed 33% of material costs." Tony worked his ass off and got it done. Absolutely amazing difference after years of temp misery. Very comfortable now.

5 months ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

Man that is fucked up. I hope you tipped Tony in crisp Ben Franklins.

5 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

1 million might have been what they paid but most of it was pocked by the owner and they got the quality of job the rest of the crew were paid to provide

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Maximum profit construction.

5 months ago | Likes 192 Dislikes 1

This. And most HOA neighborhoods are part of the grift.

5 months ago | Likes 28 Dislikes 2

We live in a lowest-bidder world. Home construction is a good example. The owner hires the lowest-bidding home building company; who orders blueprints from the lowest-bidding architect; and who hires the lowest-bidding general contractors, plumbers, and electricians; who hire the lowest-bidding labourers, and who use materials from the lowest-bidding suppliers. The result is a home built by the cheapest people, out of the cheapest materials.

5 months ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 0

And sold to the highest bidder...

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

These days "success in business" just means 1. Offer to do it for the cheapest price 2. Clack the whip on your servant workers with unrealistic expectations, they pretty much don't have a choice anyway, others employers are just like you 3. Convince your mark/customer why it became more expensive with bullshit stories, lies and knowing which parties to placate or blame to avoid any consequence for your lies.

5 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Politicians should fix this but they won't. Because they are either incompetent, they benefit from this system or both.

5 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Both. It's both.

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Actually these kinds of fuck ups end up costing the sub-contractors a shitload of money.

It's way the hell more profitable to do it right the first time than get slapped with a backcharge and go back and fix it.

When back charged, you not only have to fix your part, you have to pay all of the other sub-contractors that have to follow behind for their part.

5 months ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 1

For instance... If that wavy wall in the OP was due to a framing issue, the framer would have to pay someone to cut the wall, fix the framing, then pay the drywaller, painter, and trim carpenter to return and cover the repair.

5 months ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 1

This is how it SHOULD work if the law worked properly. Sadly, in a lot of places the law took a nosedive in favor of the big corporations and billionaires who have teams of lawyers to lobby for more forgiving laws and who are trained to find loopholes in existing laws. As consumer / regular individual you're often screwed even with legal representation leading to a lot of people not even trying because it still costs you a lot of money to try.

5 months ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

I work in the industry in Florida, one of the least regulated states in the country.

The back charge doesn't come from the home owner, it comes from the general contractor. The general contractor in these scenarios is often the multimillion dollar company that's just passing the responsibility down to smaller million dollar companies.

5 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

Basically the general contractor is responsible for the entire project. To reduce their costs and liabilities they make their sub-contractors, carpenters, electricians, etc contractually liable.

All the homeowner usually has to do is say "that doesn't look right" and the general contractor backcharges the sub-contractors to make it right. So the general contractor doesn't have to pay anything to fix it.

5 months ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 1

Sounds like a system where any complaints can end up in a long back-and-forth legal limbo and nothing gets fixed for years

5 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Payment ifor all contractors involved is tied to completion, and then there's the next job you'd like to get from the general contractor, so there are large incentives to get on with it.

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

I've never understood the American fascination with covering your horses with garden shed felt.

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

...wut?

5 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

@AlphaStructural your help is needed!

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

only on the collar tie....most of that was cosmetic or bad design/bad install a good punch-list guy could have fixed a lot of it for a few thousand dollars in maybe 1-2 weeks depending on order time for the new shower glass

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

@AlphaStructural

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

the only structural flaw there was the collar tie and that's a 5 minute fix

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

The rest is just quick lazy work

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I bet most of those guys were being pushed for time, or...yeah lazy

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

But the missing screws in the door *shutters*

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

its shit, but the house will still stand

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

5 months ago | Likes 72 Dislikes 6

thermoply is shit. OSB is shitty, but not straight garbage/ I will pay extra to have plywood and a real vapor barrier over an air barrier

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

What a stupid video. That'll be an entire solid wall of brick after, the "cardboard" is just an interface layer between the brick and the timber framing. Howling a construction site after a natural disaster also isn't relavent to quality.

5 months ago | Likes 27 Dislikes 7

"Solid" You really need to look at new homes being built. I hope its better in your area but building inspectors have been sounding the alarms about a lot of these bigger builders and while there may be a stack of bricks imitating a wall there is a good chance that it was not done properly and could be leaving you and your family in danger and that is one of the SAFER parts of the builds. Cracked roof braces, gas leaks, mold issues, wiring, plumbing, and yes brick walls just ready to fall over.

5 months ago | Likes 27 Dislikes 1

All contractors who at least know their shit, know that this thermoply cardboard crap is absolute garbage. People just do not understand what is going on for a while now. even an entire genre of home inspections are getting insanely popular.

5 months ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 1

Are you an absolute Dumbass? [Timber frame > OSB or ZIP sheathing > Air Gap > Outer Brick layer.] This is how all homes are built in the US. There is building codes for a reason. Thermoply is the shittiest Sheathing out there. its weaker than sheetrock. Please go learn about building houses.

5 months ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 2

(brick layer is optional, Siding is also used)

5 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

Most houses in the US aren't brick. And a huge % of the ones with 1 side brick are just a facade, and not structural.

5 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

You are correct. I listed the common building layers. the one i replied to referred to the brick layer as "solid" which infers "structural" Which sounds like a non u.s. person or not a tradesperson. Which is why i dont comment on EU/UK building methods

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I’m a fairly inexperienced builder but those zip panels seem really good we’ve used them on a couple jobs the ones with the build in insulated foam, and the tape is amazing

5 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

Zip sheathing is like the High end and best of the best.

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

roll the tape and tape the bottom edge sealed or the warranty is void

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

The US housing market starting to look a lot like China's.

5 months ago | Likes 259 Dislikes 3

This problem started four decades ago in the parts you couldn't see. The finished homes looking like crap, I admit, is newish

5 months ago | Likes 54 Dislikes 0

Don't worry, it's a worldwide problem. All of us get to die in declining housing standards.

France and Germany's biggest construction firms have seen 4 years of losses and are "cutting costs".

5 months ago | Likes 32 Dislikes 0

So what should we call it here? Cheeseburger dreg construction?

5 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

Did anyone else get AI vibes from this video?

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 15

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

No

5 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

From what I understand here recently China's is booming. In the past decade they've gone from 90% poverty to less than 1%. The us is at like 1.37% poverty. Granted, China has done a lot of evil shit, but America's in its own glass house there. China is kicking our ass left and right. They're on the rise and we're in decline because we refuse to elect progressives.

5 months ago | Likes 36 Dislikes 19

Shhhhh. China is the US forever enemy. Don't make Americans woke by telling them the truth their medias desperately are hiding from them. Let them cling on to the fake democracy they think they still have

5 months ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 4

The quality of houses and apartments in China is quite shitty

5 months ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 1

You claim that from one or two videos. The actual average quality is actually very high, higher than the quality of the average American housing unit right now.

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 2

I lived in China for several years, build quality was terrible if you compare it to Europe

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Granted it's been a decade, but I spent a month in China in a non-tourist city and build quality was suspect at best.

5 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

They've spent the past decade growing a lot.

5 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

The problems is building houses as investments, not to live in. Many blocks of buildings and homes are just crumbling because they were not built to last much less to be lived in. Just to park money in.

5 months ago | Likes 28 Dislikes 1

We have A LOT more problems than that. They're also building more green power infrastructure, building more transportation infrastructure, including 3700 miles of high speed rail, and also new bridges as well. And they're doing so while protecting their environment.

5 months ago | Likes 17 Dislikes 6

Check the prices on Temu. Now imagine those assembly lines making drones. We are screwed.

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Have you ever bought anything on Temu?

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

"while protecting their environment."
Are you kidding? For the Olympics China had to stop all industry in the area to get the air pollution down.

5 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 3

They're scheduled to be Green energy only in less than 30 years. They're cramming solar panels wherever they'll fit. They have ranges of Desert Mountains and they're covering these barren Mountaintops in solar panels. And the added shade is producing a DeDesertification effect. They're putting solar over fish farms and rivers as well, which is preventing drought in the area by blocking direct evaporation of that water. A plan that was proposed for California to reduce wildfires and generate >

5 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 2

Down voting me doesn't change reality, and I'm not Praising China. I'm describing how we are being out-competed by a country that we should be morally superior to but aren't.

5 months ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 3

"I'm not Praising China" after practically quoting Beijing.

If you hadn't already lost me, "while protecting their environment" is a statement so incompatible with the country that *by itself accounts for nearly 60% of global coal burning* that it puts everything else you have said into suspicion.

5 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

I didn't downvote you friend. Just saying I'd been seeing the building of ghost cities and houses only as an investment, thus they are crumblling since they don't care what gets put in, only what they can sell it as.

5 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

Except you aren't quoting reality. You are cherry-picking tiny parts and ignoring the whole.

5 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 2