What a potential disaster looked like... and what happened a year later (in the description!)

[@christopherpardell4418]

I told my father when I was 40, that he could have saved me an awful lot of anxiety in my youth if he had just told me that, to be successful in life, you don’t need to be stellar; All you have to do is be COMPETENT. Because it’s just THAT rare that it will always be worth money.

[@IlusysSystems]

Quite good point and it's true. I am always telling myself, that I am waay below capabilities of some of my coworkers. I sometimes wonder why they don't fire me. I guess I am okay enough. In previous job, I was quite good, but due to health issues wasn't able to maintain normal 9 to 5 work schedule. When I decided to leave that job, they offered me money to stay, even though I wasn't physically able to. It's quite weird world, but perhaps everybody has issues and in general people accept somebody not being perfect.

[@JohnSmith-pl2bk]

@@IlusysSystems You may have been able to successfully complete "jobs" to a standard that many of the more able bodied could not attain. Therefore even with less production whatever you made didn't come back to be fixed???

[@weekendwarrior3420]

@@JohnSmith-pl2bk Most likely. If your job isn't answering phone, that "9 to 5" thing doesn't matter much - productivity is more important.

[@psyience3213]

It's true. I've realized this that's why I'm starting my own business. After working so many fucking hacks that suck I know I can do better.

[@christopherpardell4418]

@@psyience3213 I’ve been self employed for 40 years. It’s much better to be able to build your own reputation than have yours limited by the poor decisions of an employer. The only downside with being self employed is the boss can be a real slave driver, and he makes you sleep with him.

[@tylero8595]

This happened when we were building a restaurant. It was on a beach so the entire wall facing the beach was glass. It was a 2 story building. The ground floor glass wall had steel 1.5" x 5" box tube with 1/2" wall supporting the floor above at the windlow sill. There were about 8 of these along the glass wall. Im mechanical plumbing/gas fitiing/refrig. At a site meeting I brought up my concern that the posts were insufficient to support the floor above. I was told to stay in my lane and concern myself with my part of the contract. I said I wanted it noted in the minutes. They begrudgingly put my concern in the minutes. I was the site foreman for the mechanical. About 3 days later they had 4 welders onsite welding on 1" plates to the sides of the posts. I found that interesting. I asked the welder foreman what was up as they were doing work onsite but had finished this area months ago. He said they recieved a work order to add these additions and that it is needed to be done immediately. Turns out they had miscalculated the lateral sheer load calculation when designing the loads. It was obvious to me. This is how accidents happen. No one is perfect. But if you see something weird, say something. I was still in the bad books with the site super as he had missed it and it made him look bad. Thats how people die. By not speaking up.

[@constructivainspections]

You did the absolute right thing my man. Any builder or supervisor worth their salt would appreciate some outside counsel and it may very well be that somebody in that meeting took it upon themselves to take a second look based on your observation, brought the engineer out, and got s*** fixed. Well done homie.

[@TheBenjammin]

Wow buddy you're so amazing.

[@gonelucid]

Ego almost messed up that situation.

[@a_lethe_ion]

And that's why you have someone calculate the loads and weight distributions

[@mlatham23]

At least someone did the recalc. Egos are such a pain. We all have them but learning to check them is a skill that saves lives.

[@Redlined997_C2S]

In construction, you never get what you expect, you only get what you inspect.

[@josephjohnson2387]

I have to use that one .

[@scriptles]

That's the best quote I have heard of 2024 xD

[@kg4lod]

This is broadly true for any form of manufacturing: testing is required for quality.

[@iancormie9916]

Lost a job to an out of town contractor. Turned out that the contract was for less than my material costs. Wonder where the fly-by-nighters bought their materials. (Three guesses and the first two don't count).

[@AdrianMunch]

I was raised on a farm, at 8 years old my brother and I laid the wood in a jig and nailed them up to make rafters for a pole barn for cattle, we did ALL our own building, as an adult on exwifes family farm, we did all our own building, tool shed, garage, foundations for grain bins, I’ve remodeled two houses, and it’s basically learn as you go, making sure you do your own work properly, it’s pays off in the long run.

[@thebullgator]

I am a custom homebuilder, and I wanted to share a slightly different perspective. It’s amazing how many clients we do consultations with only to lose the project to a builder with little experience and bad reputation because people are cheap and want more house than they can afford. We’ve seen countless projects where we get called back in after the “budget” builder realizes he’s over his head. All these issues are fixable but it’s insane how many people fall for the slick tongued sales pitch of the Dunning Kruger Contractor that’s just as delusional as the homeowners. We’ve had five callbacks this year from Customer who hired the cheaper builder. Then they end up spending more than the original budget trying to get it back on the rails.

[@davidg3944]

I'm not in the contractor business (I do mechanical design and manufacture in medical, aerospace, etc.), but to me these look like cheap materials, let alone the poor workmanship in their application. Do you have an opinion on the bowed studs, the OSB siding, the uneven gaps I noted in stud placement, etc.? It just seems so shoddy for such a large and (presumably) expensive house.

[@karlkatzke]

My wife’s a civil engineer and is held to a standard, when she does the design work for a project, of being +/- 10 (MAYBE 15) percent of final cost when she’s estimating. As homeowners, we worked with an architect last year who underestimated the project by close to 60% of what we were clear our budget was on a project we had estimated at close to $1m, which caused us to fire their design and building team and start over, losing $80k in design fees we’d paid out of pocket. It’s astounding how many architects and builders are bad at the estimation and communication part of their jobs.

[@thebullgator]

@@karlkatzke this is 100% true! We are almost exclusively design build but virtually all projects we bid that were designed by architects are shocked at actual construction costs. In many cases it purposeful because the same architects do it over and over using outdated sq foot budgets.

[@thebullgator]

@@davidg3944 it looks like they hired a track home framer to frame a moderately complicated home. Bowed studs happen as lumber dries in my hot humid climate in Florida. We dry in the house and run dehumidifiers to bring these issues forward before mechanicals and insulation. We always string the walls and ceilings and make adjustments by straightening, replacing and furring framing. We use Zip Systems for wall sheathing and roof decks. I don’t like house wrap and prefer fluid applied membranes for high risk areas and window pans.

[@davidg3944]

@@thebullgator Thanks, it's good to get informed by people in the business.

[@lothre]

I was a framer for years. watching this video is like a nightmare that would have woken me up in a cold sweat. Cannot believe this thing actually exists

[@Rew123]

I have a 32-inch doorway with a 2x8 header (it's in a load-bearing wall) leading into the mechanical room in my basement. It looks more soundly built than the wall of windows in this "luxury" home!

[@pauldembry638]

Hard to imagine it is still standing. My parents' home was built in 1922. You can see the floor joists on the basement ceiling - massive!

[@LadyDeirdre]

It exists… but likely not for long.

[@smalltime0]

I'd expect anyone that did high school shop to do better than this job

[@mynamesjudge]

Houses used to be built by Americans to American standards. Now they're built by South Americans to South American standards.

[@flyingsodwai1382]

Damn dude...3 mins in and you have convinced me to never let other people build anything for me.

[@axhed]

i suddenly feel fortunate that i will never be in a position to build a custom home.

[@scriptles]

Same, but then that means buying one already built which will still have same issues just hidden where I wont see. I would build myself but states want licenses, permits, etc.. for you to do things on your own property. I can't wait until we have to ask our government for permission to spend our own money.

[@stanleymcvay9283]

Yup.

[@FreedomTalkMedia]

@scriptles If you buy a house that's 100 years old, at least you know that it has stood all that time. Ah But then something could have been rotten and worn out though.

[@scriptles]

@@FreedomTalkMedia That would be up to me to have inspected prior to buying. Things that are much easier to spot then a small 5 square inch area hidden behind things you cant see that cause a whole building to collapse. If you watched the video.. was a headache for them.. I was not wrong here. Also, rotting is a thing.. on those wood houses.. I live in a brick house and brick doesn't rot. But I mean fair point at least.

[@actuallyitisrocketscience]

This reminds me of a situation my sister and her husband ended up in. They bought a lot, bought blueprints and hired a contractor to build their house. Four months later they took a trip to see how it was coming along. The house was a CBS house and they were getting ready to put the roof trusses on. But my brother-in-law noticed that the walls didn’t look right. They looked like they were leaning out. The guy on site assured him they were fine. But later that day, after the worker left, he bought a level and went back. Not only were the walls leaning, but my sister went to move a left over block that was lying on the ground and it broke! My BIL then picked up a small rock and was able to easily knock a hole in one of the blocks in the wall. They took pictures and showed it to the builder’s representative (the builder had left town) and told him they would get a lawyer if he didn’t fix it. As it turned out, the builder was just hiring the lowest bidders for each phase of his builds. The Mason who got the contract was then subcontracting it again. The guy who actually did the work wasn’t licensed himself and was using the wrong kind of blocks. I didn’t even know there were different kinds of cinder blocks myself. Live and learn.

[@Sammi84]

Man I would not have the nerves to be out of town while I had any builders doing anything for me. I would be looking everything over each night. Can't trust anyone with something you need to live in. Gotta check yourself.

[@RobKaiser_SQuest]

Specialist contractors subbing out their own job is a big red flag, my dad did a big rebuild about a year ago and was not onsite enough for the first part. The roofer and his team of 4 fucked the dog so hard they ended up months behind schedule, until he finally subbed out to another team of just 2 guys then stopped showing up entirely. I was onsite a couple weeks after that and the new guys had already made a bunch of progress, but they pulled me aside to say they hadn't declared their hours because so much of the work they were doing was redoing what the first guy had done, and it wasn't right to let him continue to take our money and keep a cut. So that guy was fired right smartly after that, we worked something out with the new contractors, and spent a lot more time onsite after that. But jeez, you know you're a shyster when...

[@FreedomTalkMedia]

I saw one of those KZbin shorts once, where a guy would take a cement block and toss it. It would explode upon impact with the ground. Then it cut to another clip, where a guy dumped a load of similar looking blocks out of a dump truck. Each one of them hit the ground perfectly fine. The blocks looked approximately identical but they were clearly structurally very different.

[@jm7804]

I bought an older home last year which was gut-job renovated 5 years ago and I'm finding little things here and there that the previous owners obviously did not catch during the process. One medium-ish thing was caught by the inspector during the buying process. Thank God the bones of the house are extremely solid from when it was built in the 1950s. A previous house I owned, which was built in the 90's had a strange rattling noise when the air conditioner came on upstairs. I opened up an air vent and there was a beer can in there. What kind of jerk does that? And while replacing light fixtures I found the builder didn't always put in electrical boxes. The wire was poking through the sheetrock and they just screwed the fixture into the sheetrock. Can you even imagine that level of work?

[@FreedomTalkMedia]

@@jm7804 That's insane.

[@STO7750]

The incompetence everywhere in all trades is staggering.

[@user-zu5do6ri6r]

Not really. We have them competing an awful lot with illegal immigrants. Wages are down, meaning there is less time for quality work.

[@georgecampbell1453]

It seems there’s no more pride in your work anymore.

[@ProleDaddy]

The root problem of everything is that the working class has no money because the capitalist class has it all.

[@DennisDelaney-fg4pw]

Before the government destroyed them the unions helped control quality .

[@madjackgamingandfitness498]

Boss wants things done fast for the cheapest amount possible, so they can move onto the next job sooner to repeat the process. People can blame illegals, but until we actually discuss going after companies that run operations like this freely, it will continue. If not an illegal, it’s just going to be your local crackhead.

[@goatgirl5968]

I live in a house that was a DYI built by a cheap, clueless guy. Everything is just done the cheapest, laziest way possible. My neighbor told me later that watching the process terrified him. The house is still standing and the structure seems ok but I just prepare myself anytime anything is installed or repaired. The first thing the person says us " wow... that's weird." Every single time.

[@alexc4300]

Competence is underrated. I bought a house when I lived in UK, from a widow, whose hubbie’s, “brother was an electrician.” Oh. My. God. I hadn’t been in 48h before I replaced all 34 halogen bulbs because they’d melted the caps and wires, and kept tripping the lights. An external floodlight was full of water, kept tripping power, too: and the switched fused spur feeding it had been wired as a junction block so it was permanently live regardless of the apparent switch position (and therefore unfused, too?). The kitchen ring wasn’t, because one end was dangling loose (and live) inside the distribution board. They’d wired a double gang socket outlet in the meter cupboard using a lone length of 2.5mm twin and earth but must have overloaded it at some point because there was a consistent black trace all the way along the cable on the live conductor side. Not on the return - maybe they grounded it by mistake at some point? Those are just the highlights. I fixed everything I came across but I wasn’t ever brave enough to have it inspected…

[@williamforsyth6667]

"DYI built by a cheap, clueless" Tell your story to those opposing any building codes and regulations.

[@GhostDrummer]

@goatgirl5968 I’m in a similar situation. I’m the 4th owner of the house I’m living in. I’ve been here for 4 years now. All of my neighbors have lived in this development since it was built in the early 80’s. Anytime my neighbors see me working on something, one or more will stop by to tell me stories of what the 2nd and 3rd owners did to the house/property. It’s kind of humorous at times when more than one comes over at the same time. That’s when the good stories come out.

[@arguedscarab7985]

Same here man, my parents bought the house from a flipper and I'm surprised the house hasn't burnt down with all the horrible electrical problems. Not to mention any flood damage from the plumbing issues in the attic. Surprised some of the dry wall is still on the ceiling and walls, I see nails coming out all around the house, yeah they used nails not even the strong nails either. The back deck wasn't even made to support more than 5 lbs probably so we had to fix it ourselves and fix it right, that wasn't any fun.

[@voidFutureVector]

@@arguedscarab7985 The cheap ass that flipped my house did such a bad job on the electrical, even the local fire department is familiar with it. Ive replaced most of everything he did. The plumbing was worse. He didnt even weld pvc correctly or pay for valves to turn off sections of the house. Ive had pipes burst just because of a bad weld. Fun times.

[@timestealr2967]

Anchor bolts were missing washers. The purpose of adding washers is for extra hold down strength and prevent the nut on the bolt from 'sinking' into the sill plate. As you can see in the video, many of those anchor bolt nuts were driven down below the top of the sill plate which also weakens their holding strength. A washer would've corrected that. It's the small things that contractors generally overlook that would make all the difference!

[@kazesim88]

Yeah the washers are kind of the point of the whole thing. In one odd case I've even seen those bolts AND washers get ripped through the bottom plate. I worked at a bird rescue place and we had a big aviary get knocked over by the wind. It was a 10x40' building, about 15' walls, open frame with wire mesh. The rainwater apparently degraded the bottom plate enough that a wind storm was able to rip those bolts through through the wood - they were all still in the concrete with their washers on and the building was on it's side. Those were the standard washers that come with the wedge anchors. Maybe the big 3" square bearing plates that they're apparently requiring now might have prevented that.

[@Amite-zg2ob]

It is amazing what just 10 more minutes of effort in your day make / determine if u are a craftsman or a knuckle buster.

[@benttwisted210]

More than likely, according to the intended build, this is in California, where, earthquake prevention is the reason for the torsion plates. I'm surprised the inspector didn't point out those missing washers. 😏

[@timestealr2967]

@@benttwisted210 I'm from California, now living in Texas. I do believe Corey was inspecting a Texas home as he's reference a few Texas cities at times where he's currently inspecting. However, you are correct with the seismic considerations of building a house to withstand that. In Texas, there are winds to be considered. Many may not realize that absent of one stress will always present another. Texas winds can be pretty fierce, especially during severe weather events. Wind stresses on a house not built to withstand those will result in a failure of that structure.

[@benttwisted210]

@@timestealr2967 interesting! Thanks for the info! I'm in Indiana, rebar isn't even used in footers for crawlspace built homes! It is used in slab built homes though.

[@psjasker]

We did an addition five years ago in the Northeast. My wife grilled the bidders (the three top names in town). I am still in awe at the quality of the work. They had their own in-house framing crew and they had a roster of subs three deep. I came by one night and there was a retired guy from Maine putting in the landing … he said “Yeah, I’ll always help (the contractor) out if he’s stuck. IE, on-time, on-budget, good work

[@davidg3944]

I'm in manufacturing. If I did work this shoddy, I'd not be in manufacturing for very long. That's a teardown and start over in my book, with a competent crew and architect.

[@Charon-5582]

Nah, a good crew could fix it pretty easy, it would just take a bit of extra time and probably some engineering changes.

[@kylezo]

Yea that's a horrible "solution" it's good you're in a different field

[@w8stral]

Architect is not the problem(usually). Builders who refuse to follow the architects instructions to save $$$ ARE 100% the problem.

[@creamwobbly]

@w8stral That's because the architect's work is on record, but the builders', electricians', plumbers' and fitters' work is all hidden in a cavity

[@w8stral]

@@creamwobbly Not true. Inspectors NEVER hold builders to account because nearly ALL inspectors are the DREGS of the industry who did not WANT to work and instead "work" a desk. I know several of said inspectors who all FAILED at being electricians or framers. They do not know $hit. And that which they do know they REFUSE to inspect. They have to actually show up to the jobsite, but inspect it? Oh hell no they do not. UNLESS you are an independent non union guy, then occasionally they inspect for real. Or they write up the jobsite to be fixed, assuming they inspect at all so they can say they "found" something and then sign off pretending the problem was actually fixed so they NEVER have to come back to the jobsite but can "LOG OUT" later(couple days later) and pretend they are "checking" on the "fix" while they are ACTUALLY at the Doughnut shop for 2 hours or getting a haricut.

[@Bobrogers99]

I read complaints about picky inspectors, and that "I should be able to build what I want on my own property", but if this house is finished this way, soon there will be water leaks everywhere, cracks in walls as things settle, and in a windstorm parts of the place will become unstable. The faults may be covered up, but they will make themselves known. This house will have a short life. A thorough inspection by a qualified person is well worth the money!

[@michaeldowson6988]

They can take that opinion of "I should be able to build what I want on my own property" to their home insurer and see what they have to say about it.

[@morninboy]

I had friends that asked me about doinga renovation with no permits. I refused. Later they called me in desperation because they were hiring idiots who left them so they could attend summer music festivals. I asked if they had a permit. No. I refused

[@RalphEllis]

Why do Americans live in overgrown garden sheds? Why can they not build houses?? R

[@brot5246]

​@@morninboy What about the client who says Oh I'm going to live here for 5 years then build another house.. (?) Let the next guy worry about that.. I feel sorry for whoever has to remove that HVAC unit from the attic...only a small access in a little closet..

[@clockworkvanhellsing372]

​@@michaeldowson6988 As long as it isn't a danger to others, I thing one should be able to build whater one wants. But the inspector is hired for onself to make shure the thing won't come down on oneself.

[@lovepackards851]

Back in the 90's, I worked for a company that all we did was go around fixing existing home's f**kups. Really bad ones! Our boss/owner would have the current copy of every building code applicable for the area under his arm in order to make the best estimate possible. We would lose more than 50% of our bids because 1.Customer wanted it fixed right away, or at least by next week (impossible.) 2. The cost to do the work correctly was astronomical (more often than not!) or 3. "How much to just make it look good"? In other words customer wanted out from under this place BADLY, and wanted to pass the misery on to the next sucker while paying as little as possible for the band-aids (Was not going to happen with our company. We had integrity! Like Holmes says "Do it once, do it eight!")

[@utcomgrad92]

Seeing those big tempered glass panes brought back a memory for me. I worked at Scripps networks in the early 2000's. At the time they had HGTV, DIY, Food Network, Travel Channel and GAC. I worked in Network Operations where we literally put those networks on the air. 24-7, 365 days a year. They had built us a brand new control room the year before. The center piece of the design were 2 boxes featuring tempered glass walls, where the monitoring and control of On-Air actually occurred. I was there one weekend working in an area near one of those boxes when I heard, what sounded like, a small muffled explosion. One of the corner pieces of glass had indeed exploded. The top 1/3 of the pane was missing and the rest was spider webbed. It was determined the building settled during the year post construction and put pressure on that pane until it was overloaded and it failed. So if that type of failure can occur in a commercially built building with steel framing etc.... I hate to think what would happen to all those windows in the house that you showed in this video with its substandard wood framing...

[@andrewhofmann5453]

After going through several builds, I've learned a valuable lesson.... If they can hide it, the will hide it...

[@darkshadowsx5949]

yeah like the tv dinner tray and beer can i found under my floorboards on top of the insulation. and the fact that my walls dont have any sheeting just vinyl sidling, foam board insulation, studs 2ft apart, and drywall. classic hold my beer im too drunk to build a real house type of builders worked on it.

[@Camiken65]

The sad fact is they're not even bothering to make an effort at hiding things anymore. They just slap things up, throw in a few nails and expect the client and inspector to be fine with it. It's disgusting.

[@TheRomanWolf]

@@Camiken65 except the inspector usually IS fine with it... because he cbf either!

[@leftylou6070]

I hide my salami every chance I get!

[@leftylou6070]

@@Camiken65 The old slap and throw trick, eh?

[@moonmullins8227]

I know someone who was a draftsman for an Architect for several years and somehow got grandfathered in to get his "General Contracting" license....I was amazed how he knew practically nothing about building structure but started a business and defrauded a lot of people before having to flee the state to avoid prosecution. Still building somewhere......maybe here?

[@brot5246]

Ha, I think he moved to Virginia..my wife saw some trouble work at a house and took me over to see it..the guy ripped off two little old ladies..

[@pandagold4722]

lol

[@awboat]

Is this in WV? I hired a guy to do my roof and he left with the money. I tried to go through the Attorney General, but they dropped it after he refused to sign the certified letter.

[@jasonpatterson8091]

Good for you for honoring their request to hold off on publishing the video. Some folks feel like their ownership of a camera gives them the right to put the entire world online.

[@miguelservetus9534]

Could you give the timestamp to which you refer?

[@samholdsworth420]

​@@miguelservetus9534read the description bozo 😛

[@petrac2840]

​@@miguelservetus9534 it's in the description! With some more info on the house today

[@jender8022]

Mostly, it does. Camera-person owns the copyright, unless there are other agreements in place. Invasion of privacy (pix of non-celebrities), trade secrets, trespass, etc might be the only thing to prevent that. Likely, this guy is taking video as work for hire / documentation for his clients, if he's smart - has agreement he can use his work product to advertise his services/make advertising revenue from. Smart to ask client for permission, so he keeps getting hired.

[@anthonythompson5522]

You missed the biggest issue with that chimney. They forgot the cricket water's just going to run up against the back of the chimney and right down into the house

[@toomanymarys7355]

I have a HUGE chimney on my house without a cricket. Roof sheathing finally failed after 50 years. Pretty impressive how long it lasted.

[@morninboy]

A well done pan flashing will last and not leak on both asphalt, metal roofing, concrete and clay tiles. It is common with skylights

[@constructivainspections]

Oh I saw it alright and it was in my report. There was a LOT more in my report than these few items in the video, believe me.

[@morbidmanmusic]

@toddsmith5894 That's is bull, and you know it.

[@ScottDLR]

Some of that is going to be very difficult to fix.

[@markh.6687]

And expensive to fix it properly.

[@SirensC3]

Super expensive! A lot of that needs to be ripped out and start over. What a shame.

[@markthompson4885]

@@SirensC3 I hope the builder can afford to correct this work or this house may never get built.

[@itwasaliens]

​@@markthompson4885They better be able to afford it, otherwise they have no business building a custom house of this size.

[@MatthijsvanDuin]

@@markthompson4885 the original builder is AWOL, see video description

[@caymanchristopher7014]

What a nightmare. Everyone should hire an independent construction inspector from day one.

[@gregcharland]

They are some architect companies that offer "owner representation" services that will over sees the construction of custom homes from start to finish.

[@aesroof]

Home inspectors are also infected by the general malaise permeating society since Jimmy Carter continued lbj great society guidelines

[@washellwash1802]

"Nah too expensive, everything will be fine." ~ Average Joe

[@tightbhole420]

inspectors are usually morons too

[@jonrider]

100%

[@lauxmyth]

I like the excitement at knowing what an owl pellet is and that it can be dissected for the kiddos.

[@TheZoorat]

Poop

[@smitty9733]

That windowed corner supporting an upper level with a few 2 by's is beyond gross incompetence - it is criminal !

[@morninboy]

I question the drawings and how they got a building permit

[@brot5246]

Agree..that corner is dangerous

[@markharwell8793]

The corner, and other supports, do not go up to the top level... as they should.

[@robertp4716]

It needs steel./ iron.

[@user-pf3ye6yi9n]

There are hints in the "doesn't want brackets in the living space" that somebody wanted that all glass minimal uprights look and somebody else didn't tell them they couldn't have it. I've encountered this in other areas of construction; "I don't care, I know what I want, just make it work". They can always find someone who will do it, and it's no surprise that the rest of the job might then be less than perfect.

[@howlandexcavating]

This is a prime example of why municipalities need to employ, competent and accountable building inspectors. We have all heard the age old debate, people should be allowed to build the way they want on their own property. This is exactly why municipal Code Enforcement is so critical. A lot of these deficiencies will be covered up and hard to see. This becomes an issue when the homeowner decides to sell. People will argue. It’s up to the new buyer to get a home inspection, but a lot of these deficiencies will be impossible to locate without tearing the structure apart. This is why it is so important for municipalities to require thorough inspections throughout the construction process.

[@fjkelley4774]

Hurricane Andrew went through south Florida a few decades back. Houses started coming apart (some houses had essentially been stapled together). I asked a friend who worked down there at the time about the building codes and she replied the codes were generally ok. They just weren't enforced. Folks down there were enraged about it and Florida cracked down. Now I see they have a problem with some of the older condos. But I would suspect I could find similar problems throughout the country.

[@leinie6683]

building inspections are a fricken joke. We have kids just out of school that never swung a hammer doing inspections. Yeah- they're educated morons.

[@pwhsbuild]

I've had to fix hundreds of structural deficiencies in homes that were inspected by municipal inspectors through out the build. It is important to be educated about basic building principles and hire a competent private inspector to visit through the build.

[@IlusysSystems]

I don't think the guy here wanted the builders to build how they want though. Codes are BS IMO. sure let's have inspectors to document what is built and do structural analysis. But don't tell me, that I need to have light switch at certain height, otherwise my permit is void. Writing from EU, just so you know. PS: I have well water now. I have done tests, there are some unspecified bacteria. I do sanitize the well, but not as much as you should, so there is still some bacteria there. But let me tell you, my shit was never so good in quality! I had some issues while I drank municipal water. Makes you think :D They are probably making the frogs gay as well:D PPS: yes, I am a bit drunk

[@howlandexcavating]

@@pwhsbuild I agree with what you said, it is a good idea to hire an independent inspector if there is any question on the competency of your contractor or his crew. I also agree about the municipal inspectors. I do, however, feel it is very important to have municipal inspections throughout the building process, so they can catch stuff before it is covered up. Not so much of an issue protecting the homeowner having the work done, though that is important also. to me, it’s an issue of the unsuspecting future buyer, and the ability for a third-party inspector to find everything hidden at that point. And you are 100% correct there are a lot of municipal inspectors that are overworked or just don’t have the knowledge they need. I see this a lot in my industry as an excavation contractor. Most municipal inspectors have no clue what to look for. Some may be great at building construction inspection, but when it comes to foundations and earthwork, they just don’t know what they’re looking at. It is understandable, as I wouldn’t know what to look for inspecting framing, etc.. we have had these issues in my municipality. We have problems, retaining, and inspector. We only have one and he is overworked. He typically puts in a 15 hour day at an annual salary of just over $40,000. Fortunately he is very competent so he puts in the long hours to make sure the projects are inspected properly. Unfortunately, I don’t know how long he will last, he is fairly new. we have went through several recently after our long term inspector retired.

[@Chip-hm3ny]

I have been a union Carpenter for many years, went to school for three months, then served as apprentice for four years. I was trained to do the job I was paid to do. Like plumbers, other trades should be licensed. Some think being able to frame a wall and pound nails makes you a Carpenter. The truth is it is a trade with many skills that must be known. FIRST knowing how to read a blueprint with full understanding. If you can't do that, you can't do the job right. It is clear whoever framed that house never had any real training. I could only imagine those pocket doors in about three years LOL.

[@itsmatt2105]

If you're in a union, instead of working in the real world, you only THINK you know what you're doing. If you were actually a skilled, productive worker, you'd be making WAY more money out in the real world. Unions are where the dregs go to hide out lest their lack of skill and productivity get discovered and they either get paid the low wage they deserve or just get outright fired for lying about their skill.

[@user-lk7zr5hm9y]

FIRST Learn how to read a tape measures !

[@AffordBindEquipment]

@@user-lk7zr5hm9y fourteen inches and 5 of those little marks. See, I can do it!

[@lavapix]

@@user-lk7zr5hm9y So true. Reminded me of a guy on a job I was running. He seriously came up to me and said no matter how many times I cut this its still too short 🙂 Aluminum framing. The stop to hold the glass in. He messed up an entire wall. A commercial project. I sent him home and asked the boss to send him to a different job.

[@brot5246]

​@user-lk7zr5hm9y True, I was showing people how to read a ruler in college.. I guess a 16th of a inch did not make sense.. And that was in 1983...my God I can only imagine what its like now..

[@DaveTexas]

Looks like my house. We had new windows and Hardy board siding put on about four years ago. We did the windows at the same time so they could be fully and properly installed under the siding. Then we had a bad hailstorm and there was roof damage, so insurance paid to have the full roof replaced. We had it done and it looked good. Then it rained. We’ve never had roof leaks in the 26 years we’d lived here, but we had them now. Both leaks were where a sloped roof meets a vertical wall upstairs (we have a cathedral ceiling in our living room and upstairs rooms over the kitchen/bathroom/bedroom downstairs. The leaks were in the ceiling where the cathedral ceiling meets an upstairs bedroom wall. The leaks were BAD, too. Water pouring in like from a faucet. We had a third-party inspector come take a look. There was no flashing along any of the places where the roof meets vertical walls…or around the chimney. The roof people claimed it wasn’t their fault because…well, they just said it wasn’t their fault. The inspector wrote a letter explaining the problem and saying that it WAS the roofers’ responsibility to install flashing. We passed that on to our attorney. We’re threatening a lawsuit if the roofers don’t come fix the roof. They came out and did something, but the next time it rained, we still had leaks. Guess it’ll be lawsuit time. Why are so many companies not doing the work right nowadays? Why won’t they stand behind the quality of their work and fix it if there’s a problem?

[@jintsuubest9331]

If the roofing company is hired by the insurance company, then they are either the lowest bid or someone in the roofing company know some management people in the insurance company. If you hire the guys yourself, then it is likely the insurance company gives an unrealistic quote and they will be losing money for doing the job properly. As far as "standing behind the quality of their works", it doesn't matter. Company affiliated with the insurance company will still get jobs. Company that doesn't will simply move on. Most people don't know inspector is a thing. Even if they did, they likely don't have enough disposable income to hire one. And who's to say they are not in cahoots with the roofing guys. Lastly most people placed negative trust in the court system, because it is a court system not a justice system.

[@Pepesmall]

Companies and people don't stand by the quality of their work or fix it if it's wrong, simply because they don't have to. That is the beauty of capitalism, and giving up government regulations to allow the private sector to control things. If they can get away with it, they absolutely will, and if it will make them more money they will do it every single time. It makes them more money to do it wrong and get paid again to fix it. If they get sued and lose they can dissolve their LLC and not have to pay anything. Even if there is a good inspector the companies will blackball them and blacklist them and do everything they can to ruin that inspector's reputation and stop them from doing their job (just look at Cy, it's only a matter of time before someone decides to just straight up end his life or career for doing his job correctly) and if a customer complains online they will just do everything to make the customer look bad and like it was somehow their fault and turn people against them, up to suing them, and people will still side with the companies or contractors. You have to realize this. The government hasn't made it too hard to make a profit by being bad. In fact, right now they can make so much more of a profit by doing a bad job that anyone who is doing a good job will just not be able to compete. If they can get away with it, they will. The only thing that would ever possibly stop them is that if they do even one house wrong they would lose their right to do business, and that will never happen.

[@Sith_dude]

As an auto mechanic, I can say I could've done a better job, and I have.

[@thesaltyspacecowboy8531]

LMAO 😂😂😂 so true

[@jeno264]

😂😂🤣 Im a librarian, and could probably say the same!

[@archerbob6847]

Absolutely, because chances are you would have attention to the details and care about the quality if you were building this yourself for yourself or your loved ones... these building firms do not give a toss, they throw it up asap and get paid. Then if there's a problem they disappear into the woodwork and the business get dissolved

[@someonethatwatchesyoutube2953]

Build an engine that has to run at 7000 rpms vs slapping cheap pine boards together and covering them with chalk are two different universes…😂

[@Sith_dude]

@@someonethatwatchesyoutube2953 somebody has their pink panties in a bunch.

[@philipcarhart7447]

I’m as General as General gets at being a Jack of all trades, Master of None. Holy shit that house scares me.

[@howlandexcavating]

I don’t do this type of work. But as a site contractor I often get called to fix issues typically at around the 10 to 12 year post new construction. It is around this time improper excavation work starts to become apparent. Nine times out of 10 the site work was performed by the general contractor, or homeowner. Unfortunately A lot of people, including builders think of the site work process is just digging and moving dirt. Digging foundations with teeth, over digging sewer, pipe and backfilling under the over, digs, etc. these things and many others always come back years later as the ground settles. Maybe I’m biased because of my business but as far as I’m concerned what people do in my industry is the most critical part of the construction process. If the work we do isn’t correct, it doesn’t matter how well built the structure is on top.

[@markh.6687]

You might also be tired of seeing what other alleged "professional" do wrong all the time to cut costs.

[@howlandexcavating]

@@markh.6687 no doubt there are many of them in my industry as well. I think a lot of times what happens is you have good equipment operators that go into business but they don’t have the actual engineering background. It’s not as critical on commercial jobs because there are engineered site plans to follow. and frequent municipal inspections. When you get into the residential excavation on many types of projects there are no permits required so there is no professional engineering done hence no inspections. The contractor may be very proficient at moving material and getting things to grade, but they don’t have the knowledge to design the project properly. In many cases, it is not nefarious. They think they are doing the right thing, but they aren’t. I do feel bad for the customers, but it does keep myself and a half dozen more quality local excavators busy redoing others work. It is pretty common in my area as we have poor ground conditions. A large lake, shallow, groundwater table, clay and silty soils, and lots of ledge rock. The homes surrounding our lake are on top of each other so what you do as far as grading on one lot will affect 20 other people. It is easy to create problems if you are not on top of your game.

[@JohnSmith-pl2bk]

Does your code allow under slab injection.... holes drilled and solid foam injected, computer controlled....to level up the house and fill any voids? It is expensive but beats tearing a concrete slab apart... and it works wonders in concrete floored warehouses to level out tilting floor areas........

[@rodmills4071]

As they say... no hooves, no horse..... 🤔😂😎🇦🇺👌

[@wallacegrommet9343]

The complete lack of engineered connectors at the beam junctions is appalling

[@Swarm509]

Makes me question if they even got an engineer to look at the structure, or if they are just so bad they didn't install them. Either way.. terrible.

[@chrisschneiders6734]

100percent , but easy fixed.

[@ShionWinkler]

This is why we NEED harsh regulation and licensing requirements for home builders... this is a nationwide problem, where builders just don't care about anything, so the regulations have to be Federal not state by state.

[@dr.emilschaffhausen4683]

The federal government doesn't make anything better either.

[@ShouPow]

​@@dr.emilschaffhausen4683the FDIC would like to have a word, same with the army corps of engineers

[@bartdrennon1764]

Hell no!

[@ShouPow]

@@ShionWinkler edgy anti federal types conveniently forget the FDIC, the EPA, USDA, FDA... Fools 🥲

[@futuza]

​@@ShouPowthe damn FDA won't let me sell lead coated cookies anymore! *shakes fist* /S

[@3beltwesty]

You are missing the point that those windows are really transparent Aluminum that Scottie invented..lol

[@Starfish987]

Yes! This reference made my day.

[@GearboxEnt]

Worth noting that transparent alumin(i)um has since been invented (aluminium oxynitride) :)

[@tealkerberus748]

@@GearboxEnt And it's even pretty strong : )

[@pauldembry638]

Actually it's unobtanium.

[@fhuber7507]

This approaches tear down and start over by 4:30 The new builder is not going to want to take on the liability of the shoddy work by the original builder.

[@bobbygetsbanned6049]

I totally agree, everything was done wrong. The roof will always leak, the walls are wrong, the rafters are wrong, this thing is a disaster top to bottom.

[@mechanictaft4848]

Yup I've done jobs like this had to tear down most of them there was no way to make safe and correct

[@davidg3944]

Yeah, teardown and redo was my comment also.

[@karlkatzke]

I’ve done a lot of teardown work in my main job, and it’s caused me to do that as a last resort in other areas now too. This isn’t a tear down necessarily, but it needs a double handful of modifications that the owners might not be happy with in order to not rot and leak. Austin, Texas is a humid climate with a lot of rotting and water issues on all planes of a structure.

[@MattSandford-qh4xj]

Box of matches needed urgently,

[@alexparadi522]

Love that you are just highlighting things that you want an engineer to look at - I've seen a bunch of 'inspectors' on youtube that are making engineering judgements on the fly and saying the builder was wrong.

[@cpoppyfin6751]

Reminds me of a commercial OSS system i just inspected. Contractor made unapproved changes to the design and then backfilled things to try and hide it. Gave them a choice, dig it up and fix it or, the system will never be permitted and the violation letter will be sent to the local prosecutor for legal action. OSS contrator and general contractor together.

[@lastresort1460]

2x6 outer walls.. saves a lot of grief

[@dougcarlson6800]

Sorry to see that yes call the lawyer the structure engineer and start over. That roof I have never seen it in my life as a carpenter and I have pretty much done everything. That picture alone will settle the lawsuit. Where are the washers for the a.b.’s and nobody uses nails in the hd’s anymore. There is so much to list that I saw in the video to even start.

[@NScherdin]

Anymore? Nearly 50 years ago they were bolting them.

[@user-ky6dc4ot6r]

My wife and I had to finish the house we are in. The first builder stole our $ and used it to finish a bunch of specs he was building and the second builder abandoned the job after spending his initial draw money on a new truck and falling 6 months behind because he ran out of money to keep the job going. Go figure. My wife and I jumped in and had to re-frame the entire second floor and made numerous repairs to the faulty foundation and first floor and basement framing. We took thousands, yes, THOUSANDS. of pictures and recorded video of all of the defects, ommissions, and sub-standard work and material. We successfully sued the first builder but didn't bother suing the second builder because he was broke and would never have satisfied a judgment. Fortunately, my wife and I are knowledgeable and competent builders. We were so excited to be able to hire what we thought was a reputable builder but will probably never hire another builder. We have at least one, if not two houses, to go before we die.....

[@janofb]

Get a construction loan. The bank keeps the money in an escrow account and dishes out only enough to do that weeks worth of work.

[@user-ky6dc4ot6r]

@janofb We had a construction loan. The first builder steamrolled right over the lady who was overseeing the job. I took over after they took us/the bank for about $86 K.

[@RipliWitani]

You guys aren't competent. I doubt you have air gap insulation or geothermal...

[@user-ky6dc4ot6r]

@@RipliWitani Huh? 🤷

[@richardhead3211]

@@user-ky6dc4ot6r troll alert

[@MM-rr1kp]

our 1978 house never disaapointsnin finding corners cut etc when doing projects. our 1995 house was, cheaply built, shortcuts takren owned a 1942 house. rock solid and quality all around sad to see the state of constrcution

[@darknes7800]

The biggest factor is WHO builds the house, not when it was built.

[@virginiamoss7045]

The best house I bought out of three was 1947, extremely solid; it was my first. The next was 1979 and a bit flimsy. The current one was custom built and haven't discovered the shortcomings yet; I think I may not want to know. Used to be everyone valued quality and pride of workmanship. Now that's all gone and it's all about ripping off everyone for the greatest profit possible, even in health care. Nothing is quality anymore.

[@bettysmith4527]

@@darknes7800 I disagree.. skilled carpenters are not longer building houses, it's mostly men on drugs and illegals that can barely speak English, both of which have no clue what they are doing!!

[@ToolofSociety]

@@darknes7800 I concur. I lived for 10 years in a house that was built in 1950 and it was a mess of shortcuts and cheapness.

[@markh.6687]

Guy I knew bought a house. Years later he went to have new windows installed. Installers found some of the old windows weren't even nailed at the flanges properly. Thinks they were rushed to get them out of taxable material inventory, then forgotten about before house was sided. I bought a house built in '41...I have REAL 2 x 4's, not the new stuff that's allowed by code and the industry. Unfortunately it also lacks any insulation between the layers of brick that are structural, not ornamental, and the house isn't worth enough to have foam blown in the gap between layers of brick.

[@lo5tcau5e35]

There's this amazing new invention we in Oz use in construction that would solve all the ills of these projects. It's called.. Steel. Cheers

[@bobbg9041]

The true fact that should scare the shit out of everyone, this shit is more common in a lot of builders. You can go into any tract house and find serious mistakes.

[@ryancraig2795]

This is almost "shed of doom" quality work, but it's a house that people are going to live in.

[@papajoecooking4425]

I’m 68 yrs old I’ve seen the decline of craftsmanship and craftsman! I learned to weld in 1974. I got to the point I didn’t want anyone talking bad about my fabrication and welding. My welds have been x-rayed for defective areas. I e see welders weld a pass that looked like art work! Then those who have weld a pass looking like bull dog slobber and we’re ok with it I’m here for the money not a fashion show! Ive taught my children and my grandchildren your work and actions are a mirror image of your character! I really appreciate this video! Where has “Pride” gone to? Like “Southern Hospitality” is almost the thing of the past! People want better but people won’t do better!

[@andreroy8141]

Pride has given way to greed. There is no integrity. Especially when have a builder who is running for President. Who didn't pay sub contractors, who didn't pay tradesman, and we wonder why young people saying I'm just here for the money. Until we hold people accountable. We can't show why your word matters in every aspect of life and business.

[@papajoecooking4425]

@@andreroy8141 True So True!

[@brot5246]

​@@papajoecooking4425 We hired a guy to weld pipe for a middle school in Conway South Carolina, he said he use to work in Washington DC, Yikes..he didn't last long..

[@papajoecooking4425]

@@brot5246 1976 been welding for 2 years certified AWS E 7018. I was cocky I was the man you need to something about welding I’m your Huckleberry. Worked in a high pressure tank fabrication facility. Lay a vertical 6010 root pass 6 ft then lay 2 vertical stringers 4 ft then vertical 7018 cover. Welds were X-Rayed if it passed then weld the rest of the tank. I busted twice I gouged out the weld ground clean. Old timer said I understand bust once but not twice let me watch you weld. He liked my 6010 root. I started my 7018 vertical he stopped me why is the rod pointed up? Cause it’s a vertical up. Son you are spraying that weld. Weld it like it’s flat position. But it’s vertical….. weld it like it’s flat……. I welded it go it X-Rayed was passed. Took me nearly 1 day and a 1/2 to complete all passes. That X-Ray machine humbled me. Didn’t care who I was or who I was related to it told me I wasn’t “The Man”! I never bragged about my welding. I learned to read listen and feel while I welded. Let my ok speak for its self! 👍🏻😂

[@russw3134]

People want better....But they don't want to pay for it

[@natecrosman7732]

Love the excitement over the owl pellet haha.

[@renov8629]

All of those issues are serious but can be addressed without spending gobs of money doing it. The outside beams that were cut and unsupported could be made whole using a custom bracket with thru bolts holding it together...it would add to the modern element of the home. The foundation ties are fixable...just going to need a lot of holes drilled and tapped into the pad...use an epoxy to set the new bolts. Engineer will probably call for more, just to make up the difference. the glass will need to be supported ...which means many of the floor sized glass panels will have to come out and moved down the wall, especially in the one bedroom. That corner post will need a Simpson tie on either side after being packed out. As a builder I can't believe someone would do much of what this idiot did and think it was alright. I wonder if money played a part in his decision making...as he cut a shit ton of corners...no pun intended. Why would anyone in this day and age build a house using 2x4's? Even with a blown in foam like Icynene, they won't get the needed R-value in them.

[@approots]

Good to have a builder chime in. The owner/builder reading upvoted comments about leveling it and starting over isn't good.

[@constructivainspections]

Thanks for the insight. I hope to have a chance to do the final inspection when it is wrapped up.

[@wisnoskij]

6:00 How did they even install that? Lower it in prebuilt by crane and tell everyone to never stand on that section of roof?

[@Insanity_Crow]

If you're going to go to the expense of building something like this I don't understand why more people don't suck it up and put some steel beams and supports instead of all these toothpicks.

[@dans4900]

This is a commercial build way more than residential. Most framers never see a steel Ibeam.

[@lostpony4885]

They are gonna hafta add some steel in to deal with these without starting over. Imagine this contractor"s cavalier disregard for plans on a steel job. I cant, im too amateur. Scary.

[@JohnSmith-pl2bk]

A friend hired a builder whose sole job it was to fully frame up the house. My friend welded up the steel 15 metre ridge I beam with the legs going down in each corner of the main room of the house.... the footings for the beam legs were cubic metre solid concrete founds that were reinforced and monolithic poured along with the reinforced concrete floor and foundation footings.... Every night he and his wife worked putting in the extra dwangs etc. that they wanted to reinforce the 6x2 timber studs in the exterior walls... The whole house was sheathed in PT plywood..... so if the bricks of the exterior decorative cladding fell off the house remained totally watertight. It all rode out a 6.8 earthquake with 12 metres of ceiling drywall seam cracking... requiring a rake, stop, and repaint ... as the only damage.

[@stringlarson1247]

With all that glass, it's a shame to have posts/studs in the corners. If steel was used, those corners could be cantalievered they could have glass-glass in the corners. The difference is amazing.

[@gentlegiants1974]

@@stringlarson1247 I'm a welder and I second that opinion! These big atrium like spaces are the perfect spot for quality precision steelwork, super strong, light in appearance, can be painted any way you like, just use the timber for accent, not load bearing.

[@TheLostMedici]

No way I would have walked on that roof after discovering they didn't even nail the sheathing down. What sloppy work. So glad we have inspectors.

[@benjaminbrewer2569]

3:43 looks like non galvanized nails. We can already see the rust trails weeping from the nail heads.

[@Leptospirosi]

As an Architect (in Europe) I'm always amazed at the flimsyness of Balloonframe buildings, with very little margin in resilience, for a loosely dimensioned "design-on site" aproach. I guess good building practices and regulations mitigate most of the possible issues, but watching this video really lowered my expectation about contractors "expertise". That porch alone with a half capriate without any support in the middle or tensioning rod, with the very long main truss prone to bow outward...😬

[@Demopans5990]

Balloon framing is intentionally cheap

[@The_k81]

Kitchen plumbing in an exterior wall is also a big no where I live. Guess it must never freeze there.... Better hope.

[@dangtoons1760]

Their best move was discovering you when they did! Best of luck to them. You learn so much having a house built that you wish you'd known beforehand. We actually booted our contractor that was cutting corners and chewing up our money after each inspection forced him re-do foundation, framing, roof framing, so often that the city dragged the architect out to the site and forced him to redo plans just to solve problems created by the contractor not following the approved plans. This continued through the whole process including half-a&&ed work on the drywall, ceilings, flooring and molding work, turned out he was hiring subs that were hiring unlicensed subs. even 10 years later we're still dealing with those cut-corners & shaking our heads.

[@JasenCooke]

The real scary thing about this level of imcompatance is when it's combined with an over stressed building dept and I find it on my projects. I've been a remodel carpenter by trade for 38 years. Like I always tell the clients, we can never know for sure until we open things up.

[@nocturnalverse5739]

Bless the good inspectors. Wow, the money on that house, and that shit work.

[@chrism2042]

As an electrical contractor doing commercial and industrial projects for 30 years with 25 of those years as an architectural and electrical engineer also, the past 10+ years has made me question how so many people get a contractors license. Not just builders, all trades! Good, "professional" contractors are out there, but few and far between.

[@tealkerberus748]

Every time I watch a roof inspection I appreciate even more the importance of scaffolding and safety rails while the roof is being worked on. It would be so ridiculously easy for someone to fall off - especially in a warm sunny season when the light and heat could easily make someone dizzy! Every worker deserves to go home safe at the end of every day. That includes roof workers and inspectors. Use scaffolds and safety rails, people. It's not rocket science.

[@hokudadog7637]

Fantastic video. No cap, you saved lives. The first builder needs to be held over the coals for this.

[@PopsSinging]

I used to hear tradesmen say, "You can't see the mistakes at 55 mph in the rearview mirror." Many would just do anything it took to meet a deadline for a draw on the job, leaving the contractor to cleanup their mess. It puts the contractor in a tough spot because a lot of times these subcontractors have families and their employees have families and they will go without unless they get their draw, but some subcontractors once they are paid will ghost the contractor. My family owned a construction company for seventy years.

[@dobbo7690]

My house was built in the early 1970s and nearly 50 years later I got the washers and nuts to actually fasten the house to the foundation. They left the bolts sticking up out of the sill plate and fkd off.

[@davidg3944]

I guess you should be grateful they had the studs in place??

[@aircastles1013]

I’m guessing you don’t live in tornado alley?

[@timestealr2967]

Hey Corey, one factor here with those picture windows is that if they're not sufficiently supported with deflecting load bearings, over time and due to load bearing stresses, the glass will fracture, crack and even shatter. Where beam support is lacking due to large windows, the contractor needs to 'beef up' the load bearing in order to offset that future disaster. Great work, sir!

[@STEVE-lk2ft]

I’m betting someone (the client) changed the size of the windows without consulting with the architect making it impossible to frame those walls correctly. I hope the builder got written change orders for all the things the client changed from the approved plans!

[@timestealr2967]

@@STEVE-lk2ft Well, not only that, the GC abandoned the job, so whomever is hired to complete it will have to correct all the errors with this build. That can add thousands of dollars to the overall contract cost! This is why if you're going to do a 'custom home' build get a very reliable and bonded GC!

[@STEVE-lk2ft]

@@timestealr2967 my experience as a home builder for 40 years makes me think me the client made changes and is totally responsible. The roof and the walls with the windows could not have been on the approved plans. Someone made changes as the home was being framed and I can’t understand why the contractor would make those changes.

[@timestealr2967]

@@STEVE-lk2ft Without a doubt that's what happened. Question is, how much will it cost to correct? 🤔

[@constructivainspections]

Yo, thanks for watching. I hope to get the chance to revisit this house once it is finished and post a follow up video!

[@GLHerzberg]

WOW! What an expensive nightmare this is going to be. Augh! When you said "between builders" you said it all.

[@maumor2]

Got to love the pre-drywall inspections. Most builders hate them because they know drywall (and caulk) cover most mistakes

[@user-nh9fi2sx2x]

I just finished an owner builder 3100sqf home. If I wouldn’t be a fairly experienced DIY and spent tons of time onsite it would end up a disaster and eventually in court. I spent countless of hours fixing shoddy work from different subs before drywall went up.

[@JohnSmith-pl2bk]

A friend hired a builder whose sole job it was to fully frame up the house. My friend welded up the steel 15 metre ridge I beam with the legs going down in each corner of the main room of the house.... the footings for the beam legs were cubic metre solid concrete founds that were reinforced and monolithic poured along with the reinforced concrete floor and foundation footings.... Every night he and his wife worked putting in the extra dwangs etc. that they wanted to reinforce the 6x2 timber studs in the exterior walls... The whole house was sheathed in PT plywood..... so if the bricks of the exterior decorative cladding fell off the house remained totally watertight. It all rode out a 6.8 earthquake with 12 metres of ceiling drywall seam cracking... requiring a rake, stop, and repaint ... as the only damage.

[@tsicby]

Holy contractor nightmare. It's like someone hired guys from the Home Depot parking lot, gave them a set of plans and dropped them off to work unsupervised. These "framers" clearly had no experience. You can find excellent contractors that do framing but you have to pay them what they're worth and allow them to do their job the right way (which costs money).

[@weekendwarrior3420]

"the old builder basically disappeared" - I've heard this story about "custom house builders" before a few times. "Open a shiny office downtown, find as many clients as possible at once, hire the cheapest subs to build everything simultaneously, collect all the money and disappear before warranty issues start cropping up."

[@rodneyobrien1262]

Same as building estimators and quantity surveyors applying for new jobs. I won 20 million dollars in contracts for my company, however, at the end of the day those contracts lost money and resulted in liquidated damages.

[@horatiobeaker]

As a commercial contractor I can say that 90% of homes are built with the same disregard for quality installation practices whether it’s a housing development or a $5 million custom home. One home might be prettier and have higher end finishes, but structurally they are built the same.

[@donnairn3419]

Fixing up a mess is often a harder than starting from scratch.

[@MichaelBishop-uw6wx]

A lot of people conflate "custom build" with "better quality build." The two terms are mutually exclusive. When we did our "semi-custom" build, we kept a running punch list the whole time. By the end of construction, the builder just wanted to get rid of me for being a pest. I know for a fact, I didn't catch everything, but I'm glad I had the list - because I probably caught 80 percent of the mistakes. Other customers of this builder may not have fared as well if they weren't keeping a list. The biggest mistake I didn't catch was the poor roofing job - which required constant repairs, and had to be totally replaced after just ten years. And I still have light switch in my office that's not connected to anything. If I ever buy another house, I want to buy one that a highly competent builder, built for himself. Carry on.

[@miguelquiroz1550]

That is a hugeeee list with a lot of costly repairs.

[@bills6946]

“But thats how we build them in my home country”. Hire a trained framing crew, not the cheapest framing crew.

[@cerial0411]

This is why you need multiple inspection companies to approve, recommend, or deny things moving forward on a project. I imagine the inspections that were approved on this project have also been approved on other similar projects by the same company.

[@EddieJazzFan]

One of the main problems is that on a perfectly nice day, nobody is working. Probably the typical builder that takes on too much work, so every job slows to a snail's pace. Meanwhile, the weather/rain is getting into all the half built (and half-assed) houses.

[@JeffY-y3z]

I lived in an unincorporated area while I was in HS. Our neighbor across the road from us decided to put in a picture widow. Slightly sloped roof, 35" wide wall, two double hung widows when he bought the place. He got out a saw one day had a couple guys from the neighborhood help him put the window in. No headers, no jack studs, no King Studs, or sill. Northern IL (so we did get snow) just put the window frame in.....another load bearing window. My dad who was a construction supt. pointed out the flaws.....neighbor claimed he knew what he was doing. Guy also put in a sunken tub in the master bath....no support framework for that either. Just cut a hole in the floor and dropped the basin in the floor. The only thing that kept it from falling in the basement was the lip of the tub. Luckily they guy sold the house to a meth producer a year or two later and it burned down.

[@johnelectric933]

Tradesmen used to be tested and policed by their unions. Now that we "don't need" unions, you are on your own. Most contractor licensing is just a paper test you can study for. Now every guy with a saw and a hammer is a framer or carpenter and people just shop for the cheapest, and get what they pay for.

[@markh.6687]

If you REALLY want to have some fun when looking for any kind of construction/remodeling contractor, tell them up front you'll need copies of their General Liability and Workman's Comp insurance policy Certificates of Coverage, and that you verify coverage with the issuer of those certificates. If they balk, they're likely not insured, which would leave you holding the bag in the event one their workers gets hurt on the job. Don't depend on the city/county/State or whatever licensing process to make sure of that insurance coverage.

[@iqvoice]

FWIW, but the worst, most shoddy, and dangerous electrical work i ever saw was on a house with an IBEW sticker on the storm door.

[@SvendleBerries]

Unions are largely at fault for stuff like this now. Often they will shield bad workers and just shuffle them around to keep them employed when they really shouldnt be. Or if its like the umpire union for MLB they just do nothing because they know nobody can really do anything about it. Or rather, the people who _can_ do something about it choose not to because they are in on it.

[@tedecker3792]

Thought all you needed was a tool belt and a dog!

[@Baughbe]

Have to say most of the unions didn't do a good job of self policing either. One summer (back around 1980, when unions still had power) I worked with my dad as independents fixing Electrical Union work in a newly built convention center building. Wires had been strand twisted together, and left that way. (not even capped in many cases) Lighting fixtures that were supposed to have a plug and socket set up... directly wired and badly done at that. Had to work 'hot' as the contractor had miswired the main with the other buildings, (there was a central electrical building for the complex) and could not cut the power in the one building without shutting down the entire complex. (Yeah, they messed up the main electrical cabinets as well, we didn't have clearance for that) That was union work. No better and no worse than I have seen by non-union. If there isn't constant outside oversight, you will always get this kind of garbage. The only difference is, the union guy could afford to buy a sandwich after work, the non-union can't. Just gotta remember, the union and non-union contractors are hiring from the same pool of workers that contain a large amount of lazy, incompetent people. And neither one actually cares about quality, just how much money they will have at the end. If you want bad building practices fixed, an inspector on-site at all times is the only possible solution. And not a good one as likely that position will quickly be filled with people willing to take bribes.

[@bills6946]

It is glaringly apparent there was no framing inspection. You don’t apply roofing, rough plumbing and hvac and termite treatment until you get the framing and fire stops signed off. A chef could see the glass walls are not correct. The owner will be lucky if they can find another builder willing to take on this project.

[@avsystem3142]

Fire stops? To my knowledge (in the areas where I have lived and owned houses) fire stops between framing studs stopped being used more than fifty years ago. These days the insulation acts as a fire stop.

[@bills6946]

@@avsystem3142 You wouldn’t get your framing signed off in the town I live. Every penetration between floors or fire rated walls better be sealed with Flame Safe caulk. Our inspector tugs on the romex at random to make sure you packed the hole. Stops between studs are called blocking, purlins or cats. They are mostly blocking to strengthen load bearing walls, not for fire stops. The bottom and top plate prevent air flow in stud cavities. Stud blocking was used in the 1920’s era as fire stopping because balloon construction was utilized. Balloon construction is no longer legal anywhere.

[@PanduPoluan]

Also, so glad that the client ended up with a competent builder. I hope their dream house is finally realized, _and in a proper way_ of course.

[@NCLUSA]

I worked almost 40 years in construction, so I have seen a lot of things. On one job they had Mexicans doing the drywall, these guys had no idea what they were doing, they were putting on the mud with their hands ) : ? . If you have a home built, check out who is doing the actual work, you might be shocked a bit.

[@HawkGTboy]

I can’t even imagine sinking all that money into having a house built and not having it done after all this time.

[@user-iq2yp1dn1q]

this was eye-opening in terms of what can go wrong with a custom build in terms of contractors not being able to do it right.

[@dans4900]

That's exactly right. There are contractors able to do this easily. It just costs more and the owner went with the cheap one

[@JohnSmith-pl2bk]

The worst would be the clause they all try to insert which says the contract is null and void if the owner or any other person (other than local council inspector) enters the property to inspect it at any time before handover......

[@mycorner967]

its so pretty with all those windows but I would always rather live in like a simple sturdy box that won't have many issues in my lifetime than a dreamhome with mystery construction issues

[@terryallemann2654]

I feel sorry for this inspector after watching 3 of his videos I wonder who is building houses in Texas. I would be scared to buy a house in this area.

[@constructivainspections]

Ha! You kidding? That's JOB SECURITY!

[@tednisbeth3088]

I have been building custom homes for 50 years and also going in after frames to do pick up work , fix mistakes . this house is a real mess , ouch!

[@lchitman]

Biggest problems in home building now? A huge number of the guys building the homes come from lands without building codes and think they are stupid when you try explaining them to them. Secondly is the cash grab builders doing developments. Those builders are getting it done on a shoe string budget with trash materials and even worse workers spending more effort to hide the bad spots than to just do it correctly or use the right materials. Coming into sites to look over doing drywall I'll see where they ran out of wire to finish the recepts in a room or something was added so they cut up a old drop cord and use it, or build something using a nail gun with nails incapable of getting full penetration where screws should be. A bump out front wall to a second floor bedroom of a home and after looking at the wall framing ask the framers how far back did they run the joist for that section to tie in or did they use longer joist in that area since if it's framed badly it will show first in the sheetrock later....nope, they just built a wooden box and secured it to the hole in the house essentially. Only thing holding it on the face of the house is toe nailed nails from a nail gun. We also need a few sanity balanced inspectors who do not use the buddy system with GC's. Guys who use common sense. Not theories they've come up with from reading the packaging pamphlet in materials. Most inspectors are not capable of actually doing the work. In my area, inspectors started trying to make extra money by charging to fix the issues they found......that was hilarious since most can find bad tile work but cannot do good tile work for a example. This jobsite in the video is a good example of guys doing bad work since they don't understand the reasoning for the way it should be done. Doing the anchor bolts in the correct places wouldn't have been any more work, they just didn't see the reason why it was important so they did it how they wanted to. That plus the use of labor brokers who send whoever each day to sites...so the migo you have osb sheeting the exterior today will not be the migo you have finishing the osb sheeting the next day. The plumbing going through the exterior framing on the first floor at the kitchen window....knowing a cabinet is going there so it could have just ran on the inside around the studs....so the wall was framed already, but the plumber thought "screw you and the structural integrity of this place" and ran them through. Plumbers and electricians are such divas a GC won't call them out on it. They'll wait and see if the inspector catches it. The missing frame work was where someone had made a change adding the pocket hole door frames and the framer was waiting till they figured out wtf they had going on. The odd unsupported roof structure in the back with the huge beam, that's way too much money in heavy wood and built way too intentional....that was something someone changed and demanded to be done by the workers. No worker thought that was easier to build that way. The property owner most likely thought it looked better and didn't see the issue until after you pointed it out most likely, lol.

[@MntneerWVU]

I'd love to see the Structural drawings. Shocking that the builder just completely ignored structural details in framing those window walls like that.

[@michiganracer1181]

So many errors I feel bad for the owner, this is terrible and unsafe!

[@adamabele785]

When you find that much issues it is almost better to tear it down and build it a second time. When you see that many issues, there are more issues that you can not see that will make trouble for as long as the building exists and they will appear over the years one by one.

[@BanterMaestro2-y9z]

Load-bearing glass? Jesus. Not only is that subject to breakage, removing its support, but explosively so. Glass that is under extreme compression when it breaks doesn't just shatter, it explodes, like a grenade.

[@kanders7391]

As a buyer it pays to at least know what a load bearing wall is. I talked with my builder about the design in the design phase before the house was built, when I adjusted what was a template for a 50ftx20 small 3 bedroom home design to have one fewer bedrooms, to make the livingroom space bigger. We could have gone with a column at the load bearing point where the inner edge of the 3rd bedroom used to be, but I kept the whole 9 ft inside wall. With the original hall doorway to the ex 3rd bedroom turned into an arched second entryway to the living room from the short hall its wall makes, although the livingroom is also open on the original livingroom side, to the kitchen/dining area. The wall I left in secludes the remaining 2 bedrooms & acts as a sound dampener. Also the coat closet is on the hall side of that wall. We have 3 4’wx5’h windows in the living room, with a 4w x 1.5h transom window 6in above each for light above the curtains. Light with privacy. I plan to place vinyl privacy light diffusing stick ons on the transom windows in some pretty pattern. Plenty of view space, with curtained privacy & light from above & still lots of wall space either side of each. I hang a lot of pictures & paintings anyway. The guest bedroom has 1 5x4 window centrally placed & the master has 2 thin 5 ft tall windows framing the bed space. My state requires any house plan to be ok’ed by an architect & every step of the building process has to pass a state inspector’s inspection. In your video, they probably would have wanted to put thick wood pillars in the wall banks of windows you showed. Or metal girders. I think the girders might have less of a footprint.

[@kanders7391]

My state also now requires drop down ceiling sprinklers in all new homes, & built houses to instal a small number of solar panels to help the grid handle expansion. Manufactured & mobile homes aren’t required to add solar panels.

[@karlkatzke]

That load bearing pocket door frame (9:12) is also fun.

[@davidg3944]

Good catch (of a bad design).

[@karlkatzke]

@@davidg3944 I could make that design work but the way it’s put together doesn’t; the header and hanging methods aren’t even close to sized for that load.

[@navajojohn9448]

Where I live in Fl and Caribbean I have block and concrete homes. The carib home doesn't have any plaster board or interior wood framing.or wood flooring. Solid built.

[@MrDavid949]

The H type floor plan is weird and wastes a lot of space. Lots of walls and hallways, not much usable space.

[@merylsmith8297]

That glass room has some Groverhaus energy

[@mipspc]

do they get snow there???? you know why i ask.

[@StCreed]

Yeah. Ouch.

[@NotSure416]

This is why you take the time to get a reputable builder. The homeowner is going to have to sue that first builder if they want to get any money back. It looks like they're going to ave to redo a bunch of stuff.

[@ryan52403]

Do you want to do a video on our custom build? It may be even worse than this.

[@constructivainspections]

Hell yeah, send me the address! constructivainspections at g mail

[@TheEudaemonicPlague]

Reminds me of when we had a high school reunion. One of my classmates owned a bar, so we partied there, then closing time came, and he invited us to his shiny new house...an expensive one at that. Once I got a look at the inside, it was obvious the builder had cheated him. There were gaps around the back door and other little details. Me, I bought a house built in 1894...I suspect my house will still be standing years after his has been torn down.

[@godbluffvdgg]

4:33 WOW, just WOW!!! Carpenter ex builder for 35 years I've NEVER SEEN Beams so mistreated...Those cuts are pathetic the end one is split...smh...I've seen some bad stuff you've shown but, between the roof, etc But this one is brutal..

[@constructivainspections]

It hurt to see with my own eyes.

[@JeffyJeff01]

Being a semi retired custom builder in Tampa Florida I know exactly how you feel, just plain sad. Even if you blew your bid and subs are breaking your bank you still need to take pride in what you do, this builder didn't. This builders competency level is so low it's mind boggling, how did he end up with this contract? Feel really sorry for this owner/buyer. Your right about the design/floorplan, this could have been a beautiful home and still can but at what cost?

[@Dave-oy3jl]

This is a tear down for sure, as it will cost more to fix the problems than to start over and do it right. I am in the middle of building a house, and thank god I found a great builder.

[@HarryDirtay]

Sure buddy😂 you people are fucking hilarious

[@pandagold4722]

its not tear down.

[@avsystem3142]

Some years ago I did a major expansion/remodel of an existing residential structure. I designed the project and obtained the building permits myself, unlike most such jobs where the general contractor would obtain the permit. The building department and inspectors were all over my case at every step. I didn't have a problem with that because everything was built to code. However, in the original structure, that was a design/build by a contractor there were numerous code violations, including lack of a foundation under the wall supporting a two story structure. Apparently, the building department just assumed that a licensed contractor would build to code and that frequent inspections were not necessary. I also personally supervised the construction at every stage and repeatedly had to correct/instruct the carpenters and other trades when they departed from the design or failed to, for example, leave the required gap between OSB sheathing panels. The inspector dinged the lack of expansion gaps and I had to pay the labor of running a Skill saw down the joint to create the required gaps.

[@tomjacobs644]

Remember that codes are the minimum requirements, not necessarily applicable for a custom house of this design.

[@avsystem3142]

@@tomjacobs644 Building codes cover all construction under their purview. Aside from the type of fixtures at the ends, all plumbing is the same, regardless of whether or not the house is "custom". The same applies to electrical, etc. No contractor is going to "overbuild" a structure simply because it would add cost without benefit. The building codes already include large safety factors relating to structural integrity and operation of mechanical systems.

[@Kevin-hb7yq]

Owl pellet for the kids, +10!

[@Sith_dude]

Cowpies for the kids are better. 😂😂😂

[@constructivainspections]

Yeah, my kids had zero interest in opening that thing up. Then again, they're raised in the city and I was raised in the woods.

[@Kevin-hb7yq]

@@constructivainspections 🤣

[@butter7734]

So it's an owl shit? I just asked in the comments. Never heard of people disecting shit. I had no idea what it was.

[@Kevin-hb7yq]

@@butter7734 Yes, it might have a mouse or lizard skull with some bones and fur.