It all starts with cardboard sheathing. Any developer that builds with that junk is not going to be paying attention to detail on anything, except closing on time and maximizing profit. I feel sorry for the families who buy those money-pit houses.
How many buyers of one of these houses is going to stay in it long enough for the shoddiness to manifest itself? They're most likely going to 1-get transferred and put it on the market, 2- move up and put this one on the market, 3- default when they get laid off and the bank forecloses. It's the poor schmuck who is second owner (or maybe third owner) who starts seeing issues with the poor construction.
I didn't see any wind bracing either, might have missed it though, but, ya, 100% plywood, or, OSB is the only way to go. Sheetrock nail pops galore in about one full change of seasons. 😏 If they gave me one of these houses to live in, sure, but, I would just turn around & sell it in order to 100% stick frame my own. (42 years in the biz & a 21 year licensed contractor in my state)
I had a custom house built several years ago (Design Tech) and my entire lumber load sat out in the rain for more than a month. I told the construction supervisor that his pile of twisted pretzels were not going to be in my house. During framing, I showed up on site every day with a can of red spray paint, so I could mark every defective board. That supervisor was eventually fired and his replacement was much better. Even custom builders can be problematic. Both of our water heaters turned out to be used, not new. The furnace control board was obsolete. And yada yada yada. We eventually sold the house as it wasn’t our retirement dream home after all.
When I watch these videos I'm so glad that I have been able to build my own houses. Construction has not even been finished and these units are already tear downs. Now I'm retired and just design. The most recent home that I designed is currently under construction and I regularly walk the owner through the house to show her everything that is wrong. This is a simple house that took two weeks to draw with lots of detailing and the builder says it is too complicated. The home is out of level in areas, studs, joists and trusses do not line up. Measurements are out by half an inch. Stair well is out of line. Missing load bearing points. One mechanical run took the long way by thirty feet. A change every day so that it is not the house I drew. Where I live we use 1/2'' sheathing on our exterior framing. Cardboard would not be allowed
Worked new home construction in Austin area many years ago as a finish carpenter. Saw inspectors pull up, job boss goes out, inspector signs off on paperwork and leaves without ever getting out of the pick up. Common occurrence.
That’s the way it was in the Detroit suburbs when I started framing in 1990. Put the permit board out by the road and they’d drive by give you a green sticker and be on their way.
I'm down in Austin visiting family for the holidays, I knew the pace of development was high compared to my neck of the woods (Pennsylvania) but seeing it with my own eyes is something else. We took my niece to a park in the city and must have passed by 20 brand new developments plastered with "now leasing" signs, which all looked exactly like the ones in this video. Seeing that gave me flashbacks to 2008... hope I'm just paranoid. Anyway, I always appreciate the videos, Merry Christmas & thanks for the entertainment!
The thing that I can take comfort in is that he's not making more videos. If instead of weekly vids of a few problem houses, we had daily ones, I'd be much more concerned.
This is in Texas and the cardboard is legal to use here as a backer for finish product BUT even though it has structural in the name it is NOT structural in any way and certainly not fire shear wall constructions use.
I live in Michigan and was a framer for 14 years. We used cardboard sheathing ( thermo ply) on many homes. Completely junk. A rock could easily go through it. For most builders it's about profit. Celatex. A board made of glue and ground fined mulch is impossible to put out if caught on fire. We tried to put out a pile. We set it on fire and tried several times put water, snow, and smother it. It just kept catching fire. Now imagine if that was on a house that caught fire. Lol
I provide tech support for machinery used in truss plants. On a recent visit to a plant near Austin, they were running lumber that was BLACK with mold, before it was even assembled into trusses. Entire units of lumber had mold on every board.
Early in my life I was a telephone installer in central Florida, loved those new stucco houses since I never needed a drill to put a hole in the wall for the wire. Push my long screwdriver, twist a couple of times and straight through to the drywall, two more twists and it was ready. I had several of those long screwdrivers, even drilled tiny holes in the blades to hook the phone wire. Sometimes it was necessary to put in a ground rod when the underground service wasn't near the power ground. Since Florida is sand this normally wouldn't be a problem but in one fun instance the neighbor (old NY or Ohio retiree) was laughing as I carried that 10 foot ground rod thinking it was going to be fun watching me work. That was right up till I stabbed the rod in the ground and it kept going, all ten feet disappeared as it slipped out of my hand. Crap, I only had the one so made a trip to our ware house and got five more and a box of couplers. This time I put two together for a 20 footer and pushed 15 feet into the ground. Holding on I gently hammered the last five feet and it was still loose so I added another 10 food ground rod. With 28 feet in the ground it got tight so I had to work getting the last two feet down. The neighbor was no longer smiling, instead he was looking at that little crack on the back wall of his new house.
It all starts with an approval of the building plans allowing the cheapest and least structurally sound building methodology. Then it is followed with the lowest bidder contractors, most of which can't even read the English plans, and who aren't paid even remotely enough to even consider incorporating PRIDE into anything they do! These houses are literally made of cards. Don't even get me started on looking out your bedroom window and getting personal with your new neighbors having fun in their bedroom. Privacy = luxury! Postage stamp lot with junk house, no privacy, no luxury is poor investment. These are built like depreciating assets. As PT Barnum said, there is a sucker born every minute.
This is typically the quality in Texas from the production builders. The last time I was in Texas, 4 years ago, I saw a sign posted "Real Carpenters Wanted". The structural engineering on the plans was not followed on any home I walked in the rough in stage, yet they were installing siding. The interior of finished homes I walked were unbelievably bad in quality. Doors hung out of plumb and level, cabinets hung out of level, big bows in backsplash areas, slabs not flat and the list goes on and on. I saw one house where they miscut the carpet 1" away from the wall and left it. All of the jobsites looked like a bomb had gone off there and cleanup was an afterthought. I can tell you the quality is much better in the rest of the Country. These guys do not understand that they will make more money by doing it right the first time.
These houses are disgusting. Terrible layouts, cheap/trash materials, filthy jobsites, mistakes galore... Who ever buys these houses is getting absolutely screwed.
My dad owned his own company and held a class A contractors license he had 50+ years experience in construction Dad never worked or even bid track jobs because of the low quality of track homes even back in the 70s and 80s Pop ran a tight site trusses weren't left in the dirt or drywall and the site was kept neat and picked up I watch a few channels and it's crazy to see how job sites are left a total mess as I watched this video I could just here my pops voice in my head if this was his job site it would of been in the fan 💩💩
lot of regulation means nothing when people just simply don't do their jobs or try to cheat every corner. Doesn't matter if the codes are strict or loose, Bad Work is Bad Work and it happens everywhere. Inspectors are just as likely to not do a job right just like builders.
Shocking. With the way everything has been pre engineered, including clear instructions. They still cannot get with the program. The 90's were a mess also.
I love your videos. Keep on fighting the good fight for good construction methods! I was a framer for a large part of my life and I HATE bad framing. You have inspired me to create a 3D model of a portal framed opening per IRC. Maybe 3D pictures will help some of these wall tippers do things right. Great video!
I live in Florida and I built my home 6 years ago but I was living right next door the whole time but I was lucky and had a good builder and had very few issues I think because they knew I was there everyday
"There May Be Biting Critters and Stinging Insects" actually LOL'ed at that one. Not a workplace injury threat I have in an office. And I do workers' comp statistics for a living.
New homes in America for the “average” homeowner are JUNK!!!! My first house was an 85 year old brick house, 2bdrm with 1 bath….lived there for 10 years and NEVER had any problems, just routine maintenance more or less. Made the huge mistake of having one of these cookie cutters built and 19 years later I’ve probably spent 40k in fixing things….. friend of mine worked midnights so he could sit in a lawn chair all day and watch the people who built his house, he’s never had any problems, so I guess him babysitting a bunch of professional idiots paid off for him.
Yeah, the trusses to our new house sat on the ground for more than a month.. but the foundation was actually DONE at that point.. getting the framers in there in a timely manner was/is the biggest problem with construction in general these days.. Sub's in general are SO busy that they pretty much write their own schedule.. and their own rates. Feel for a developer that is trying to get stuff done in a timely manner.. great video, keep them up!
This is why quality control is vital for every industry ever. Im an engineer and have done manufacturing, quality, and process engineering and I tell you quality control not only ensures things are up to standard it ensures people are taking shortcuts and people, naturally, take a lot of shortcuts.
ALl JUNK, and spaced so close to each other- one has a fire and it spreads one to the next on both sides like throwing a lit match into a box of matches. You couldnt pay me enough to live in a house 10 feet away from those on both sides! you'd hear them flush toilets, their TV/stereo, arguments, NO THANKS!
It is sad but you can't blame the industry. You blame the culture that buys them. People buy them as fast as a builder can throw them together. Should a builder put another $50K into them for quality when the buying market doesn't care about quality they can't see? Buyers today see nice bathrooms, nice kitchens and fake wood floors and they are happy.
Structural sheathing is basically just water resistant cardboard, new homes are costing more than ever and made similar to a homeless person house! I'd rather take an 80 year old house with all it's problems than a newly built house today!
Curious to what happens to these issues in your final report? Does the contractor come back and repair them? How are they able to repair some things like the strong ties that are imbedded in the concreate slab?
@@stevebabiak6997 lol what? So even if he found sufficiencies in the work it’ll just get left in place? That’s crazy…no wonder my dad always told me they don’t build them like that use to.
@@thangcacdi - the report won’t get to the builder for like a day, maybe two. The drywall sub is scheduled for the day after the inspection - games builders play.
When the STHD14s are installed incorrectly or at the wrong location, you can post install HDU5s w/ epoxy. You’ll need to check the uplift, because the capacity is slightly less, but it usually works. You’ll need an engineer letter to do that.
That looks like California; the houses are so close together! And mass produced with sloppy construction. I purchased a home built in 1902 of redwood. Yes, it needs work, but it’s on a huge lot and was solidly built in its time.
those trusses laying out in the rain is not much of an issue as long as its not more than a couple months. until the finished roof is on the house they are going to get wet every time it rains anyways. those sheets of drywall laying in the mud is what happens when they dont want to pay for site delivery so its just dropped right behind the curb. the lost sheets wont really be much of an issue if the drywall guy is worth a dam they always order about 5-10 extra sheets for wastage
Installed in place and rained on won't change the shape and it will dry quickly, plus in place they will be inspired to get sheathing on it asap so the house is weathered in. On the ground for months? Lol. Every one will be damaged and crooked sitting directly on the ground absorbing moisture unsupported. You are clueless.
When I bought my home the inspector didn't even know what sheathing was. I found a wall that hadn't been sheathed. He tried to gaslight me because I'm a woman. Said he'd never heard that term before. Basically, threw his report out.
After all my years and code changes. I'll take a house from the 70's first and the 90's last. In the Midwest. If it's built in the 90's just move along
So Casey, I have to ask ( maybe it's been asked already) Are your item's listed on your Inspection actually fixed by the Builder/Contractor/ Sub's? If not what is the next logical step? Thank's for the video. Great channel. Liked and Subbed.
@@constructivainspections depends on the concrete really I have put facade on quite a few buildings and it was all held in by horizontal bars ramset into the concrete. its all about getting it after a few months of curing then you can get a good strong hold if the concrete is too green it just makes a crater with no holding power and if its been cured for years and years the nail might just glance off without even penetrating the concrete. though this is very area dependent too in hurricane areas they call for much more securement
Construction industry is full of people who are incompetent and apathetic. And I would say that attitude flows down from the developers and general contractors on these jobs. Seems like nobody gives a shit about the quality of what they're building. I guess I'm glad I can't see what's behind the drywall, siding and brick at my townhouse. I know the concrete they poured for the foundation was crap.
All these foundation to structure anchors require precision from foundation forms and house framers. Clearly either they are lacking in skill, or under pressure to move too fast.
Vent 3' minimum from the OPERABLE portion of a window. --I couldn't tell if the window is operable. Maybe so. None of those holdowns look right. Good thing there's no wind in Texas!
They build cheap flimsy houses in the US, go to places like Hungary and Romania in Google street view, they build houses WAY different! I saw one under construction in Gyomore Hungary in Google street view, they use large kiln fired hollow red terracotta blocks for all the walls, the roofs are not solidified gasoline asphalt like here- they put up kiln fired red terracotta roof tiles, they stucco the exterior. The walls appear to be about 12 to 14" thick, the terracotta blocks resemble concrete blocks but larger and stronger, and since they are vitrified in a kiln around 2,000 degrees F, they are highly fire proof- more than concrete blocks. I don't know how they do the interior, but I assume they add insulation board inside, maybe in the terracotta block cavities as well, and wood walls. They are SOLID, strong houses and highly fire and wind resistant. We USED to build commercial buildings with these red blocks, faced with hard brick outside, inside narrower blocks were used for partition walls, and inside floors forming arches between steel I beams- they are the reason why 90 West street in NYC built around 1915, it is 23 stories, it was severely damaged by the WTC collapse and fires raged inside for a long time burning office stuff, yet the terracotta blocks in the floors and partition walls stopped structural damage and limited the fires, the building was subsequently renovated and the damaged gothic exterior terracotta and brick were restored. We stopped using these blocks and went with flimsy, cheap sheetrock for partition walls, and what I like to call "Oriental strand board" for the walls, covered outside with plastic siding all waiting for one spark to ignite it all in a huge conflagration that because the houses are like 10 feet apart- spread from one to the next with ease. I saw a video where a row of about 8 or so houses were under construction, a fire started on the deck I think by someone welding or a plumber with a torch, and in minutes the whole house was a roaring furnace and it spread to all the others on both sides of it.
It all starts with an approval of the building plans allowing the cheapest and least structurally sound building methodology. Then it is followed with the lowest bidder contractors, most of which can't even read the English plans, and who aren't paid even remotely enough to even consider incorporating PRIDE into anything they do! These houses are literally made of cards. Don't even get me started on looking out your bedroom window and getting personal with your new neighbors having fun in their bedroom. Privacy = luxury! Postage stamp lot with junk house, no privacy, no luxury is poor investment. These are built like depreciating assets. As PT Barnum said, there is a sucker born every minute.
I just don't understand why anyone would want to live that close to their neighbor. To each their own I guess. i just don't really see any difference from living in a place like that to living in a condo. You get all the chores of home ownership with all the downfalls of apartment living LMAO. My town was the first town to be planned, it formed the basis for all future military bases. But even here we have at least 50' between houses
In many cities, the cost of the land is more then the cost of the structure that sits on it. To make the homes affordable, the lots are kept to a bare minimum. The lots shown in this video are double the size of many here in San Diego, where the homes are sometimes set back only 10 feet from the street and 10 feet apart from the adjacent home and sell for over $1M.
