Senseless Regulation of Construction

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by Superman

Having industries self-regulate? Self-regulating is.......regulating?

You want to see how well self regulation works, just look at the legal profession.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by The Gaijin

If the government did not require inspections, then the E&O insurance policy of the general contractors would, or the bank lending the money would.

But quality control inspections would get done - and they would be done better and cheaper and faster.

Big fan of corruption?

[RWebb]

Yes, let's just let people be KILLED in sub-std. construction.

The really GREAT thing is that with no electrical inspections we can get large fires started that will burn down major parts of our cities. Then we can rebuild with better architecture (ooops! forgot no regs. well, we can at least have nature reserves in the post-fire areas).

Wha the Hell - too many people anyway. Let's kill some -- over regulation is just money; under regulation kills people. It will help with global warming if there are fewer people -- less need to regulate that.

[DanielDudley]

After working as a carpenter and builder for 30 years, I can honestly say that the average carpenter has very little idea of structure or the principles of construction. They all think they know everything, and that their way is best. If they decide to over build something, then that is the best way. If they decide to under build something, then everybody else is a fool.

Inspectors are there to protect homeowners, builders, and towns from liability issues. If they do their job poorly, the liability falls with them, a big incentive to do the job well.

I'm not saying the averge carpenter is without knowledge. I am just saying that if they omit something, they often don't understand what it does, or they think it doesn't matter.

Most often they get away with it, unless there is a regular series of inspections.

I have a guy who works for me, who left most of the rebar out of his foundation. There is a huge slope behind his house, which is part of a mountain. This is his house. Custom timber frame.

Can you hear me now ? How about now ?

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Dantilla

Hard to believe anybody's that stupid. Buying new rebar would be less expensive than the labor involved in moving it.

And all this illustrates is that there are a few scumbags around, that will cheat with or without government oversight.

Come to LA and see some of the stuff we have to deal with when we open some of these houses. the large portions of illegals will love your idea.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Residential has historically always been - and likely always will be - the worst of the worst. The GCs, subs, developers, etc. that "specialize" in residential are the absolute bottom-of-the-barrel. SOME exceptions made for high-end, although I've even seen $2M+ McMansions with very suspect construction.

I personally would NEVER, ever buy a home built from 2001 to 2008. Not in a million years. The stuff I've personally seen out there the last few years is downright scary. Undoubtedly there will be a lot of lawsuits coming, although the guilty parties will likely be long since disappeared in many cases. . .

[berettafan]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

I personally would NEVER, ever buy a home built from 2001 to 2008. Not in a million years. The stuff I've personally seen out there the last few years is downright scary. Undoubtedly there will be a lot of lawsuits coming, although the guilty parties will likely be long since disappeared in many cases. . .

This is going to become a common attitude as time passes.

Were we in the market now i would summarily dismiss anything from that time period myself. Mid-late 90's, in my experience, was MUCH better. Sounds silly to say that but in this area it's bankable.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

The best places I've seen (generally speaking) are pre-WW2 homes, assuming they've been retrofitted with modern insulation on their envelopes. If not, that can be a substantial initial cost although life-cycle it pencils out (along with an upgrade to the HVAC system, usually). The problem is most folks don't stay in places long enough anymore to realize the life-cycle cost benefits.