Velislide builders like this make all other builders look bad. They know what they can cut corners on and do just to make a dollar. Pretty sad that those greedy bastards don’t care about the product or the consumer.
Its not just in the USA, its the same here in the UK and probably most countries. You cant lay all the blame on the cowboy builders though, if the authorities let them get away with it they will. I wouldn't have a new house given. All the properties i have ever owned have all been over 200 years old and will be standing 200 years after this modern crap has fallen down.
contractor built houses are not secure and safe. When I started billing my home in 1966, I made the foundation reinforced with rebar and crankshaft and 3 feet thick. 2x8 walls solid braced with 3/4 pressure treat plywood sheathing screwed in with 2" intervals. Lag bolts hold framing together. 2x12 roof joists. Ends of roof have 3/16" steel plates sandwiched by 2x12s. It was a lot of work but it survived several hurricanes and a couple of tornadoes while neighborhood homes were demolished.
I've been building since 2002, quality is about the same. The difference is back then you got a crappy house for a cheap price. Now they are selling the crappy houses for about the same price as an expensive home so builders are more likely to build a crappy home.
$450k cash on payment $680k for crappy houses using plastic water lines not copper and plastic electric extension not metal conduit cheap is possible to make a bunch profit
@@TeslaBoy123 I recently converted my entire plumbing system from copper to pex, it’s a better system, especially for the homeowner. Copper pipe can burst under colder climate temperatures, pex will not. It’s significantly easier to manage as a homeowner long term as well. Plastic conduit meets electrical code with todays standards and is definite a long term option, not sure why you’d NEED metal conduit of plastic does why is needed.
My husband showed me a brand new house today that had this product on it. I had no idea. It was raining and I touched it and it was swollen with moisture. I had no idea you could even do this. The houses were beautiful but they will never last. I got home and looked it up to find your video. You are absolutely spot on about this.
We need more videos like this to educate the public on what's really going on behind the walls. I built my own homes all my life because these corporate developers are the biggest cheap crooks out there, and I just plain like building quality houses. They take an expensive piece of real estate and build Trash on it. It's like this everywhere where there is a developer involved.Time and time again I witness shoddy workmanship that gets passed just because the inspector says "we only inspect to make sure the building is safe and to code" Most buyers who don't know any better only looks at cosmetics and not what's holding it together. Thanks Jordan for this video. Please keep it up. These greedy developers need to be exposed! Want to hear something ironic? The last quality home I built, the inspector told me that this was one of the best built homes he's ever seen but I am afraid that since you built your own home, it does not quality for the Ontario New Home Owners Insurance Program". But the crap like Jordan showed you in this video does. The construction industry is going nowhere fast!
As your fellow Canadian, a carpenter-contractor for 56 yrs, I'm astonished they can build a house for $150 square foot! Here in BC we estimate the average new house comes in at $350 a sq ft. I may build a carport for that, but not much else! Good night and good luck, from beautiful Esquimalt BC.
@@josephefasciani7343 I finished my last build in CO in 2010 at 60/ft2. Of course I did most of the work myself, but the numbers you are talking about are perplexing...
We had these public figures a long time ago during the dark ages, they were called investigative reporters that would do anything to get the real story, they have reached extinction, can they be saved?!?!?
Retired carpenter here. I live in a 100 year old farmhouse built out of solid oak. All rafters, framing, side sheathing, basement stairs - -- all old growth oak. Hard to drive a nail into it without pre-drilling. The lumber sold today in the big box stores is basically firewood.
Spackle, caulk and paint,,,,, make you what you aint. I have been in the construction industry for 41 years, just retired. I understand lots of folks not liking building codes, but they are there to protect the unknowing and clueless. Inspections, specifications and liscensing of of contractors will build a better product. Quality does not cost, quality pays.
I was thinking of a new build (cookie cutter houses) but no development in my area that I could find would sheath the entire house. They just hope that just the ends of the house is all you need. This is a majority of the houses in my area. I'll buy a brick home and renovate it myself. At least the brick homes from the '50s were built proper.
@@mrUsa051 you could maybe say that the quality of the materials has lessened, but at least people knew what they were doing for the most part. But still the difference in quality and materials from a house built in the '50s to a cookie cutter modern house is huge. Unfortunately the people who are subcontracted to build these houses have no skills. No morals. So they just build like s*** because they don't know how to build better and all that matters is speed. On top of that they simply don't care because nobody is holding them accountable.
I brought my new construction home last year. My builder was a self employed mom and pop business.. got a inspection and was told the builder went above and beyond code... and my builder made himself available to me if anything came up he stood by the quality of his work.... when I first started looking at builders I noticed the large companies over charged and did substandard work
I used a local mom&pop to build my custom house. It was okay, but still had some minor problems and now I have mold in my vented crawlspace after 16 years; not their fault, of course. But I am learning about vapor barriers and condensation and air movements. Walls need to "breathe" especially in warm, humid areas. The video looks like Texas, maybe near the coast with that black dirt.
Neil Lee That’s great that you install more than what’s required, and of course you are also familiar with the requirements by code and each siding manufacturer,Hardi etc. Nice to see guys going beyond for the sake of their customer.
That was commonly done for house clad in T1-11 siding decades ago. Its rated to be both sheathing and siding, but obviously sucks at being a water barrier and for air sealing.
@@bigpjohnson There was a house across the street that when the people moved out I walked over and was able to put my hand though the T 1 11 siding and right into the house. It has since been re roofed and double walled re constructed, the right way.
This is part of the reason I quit my last job with a home builder. I was a complete novice. But I was not comfortable with some of the shortcuts that we were taking. I’ve seen stuff like this before. The sloppy job site outside is telling as well.
@@SpringScapes nah. I just walked away one day. But I do wish I could’ve hung in there longer. He was a new builder, but I did learn a lot on that job. And he had even offered to help me get my license as well. It just wasn’t a good work environment. But no job is perfect.
That wrap is not designed to be water tight. It is classified as vapour-permeable-membrane, and here in Australia we use it instead of a waterproof membrane for a reason. It allows the building to dry out from the inside out. I saw a comment above about black mould being in the walls within a few years. Nine times out of ten mould will grow when moisture is trapped and has no where to go. But where is the biggest threat from moisture ingress into walls? It’s from the humans living inside. The moisture comes form all the cooking showering and most of all breathing, that we humans love to do all day long. This warm and humid air wants to get outside just as much as the cold air wants to get inside. This produces condensation on the colder outer layer of the wall system, in this case the Hardie siding. Having a waterproof layer will only cause this condensate to remain in the walls and grow mould.
@jifffy999 He's not criticizing you, just educating you, and he is 100% correct. The day to day activities that take place inside the home introduce a ton of moisture into the house. It has to be able to dry to the outside. Controlling moisture from the outside is about keeping bulk water out of the structure. That is the job of the roof, siding, and flashing first, then, as a backup, the housewrap. If it's getting to the housewrap, that's indicative of other issues with the aforementioned systems.
@@MichaelBarnes-ey7sjWalls, (sheathing), don't keep moisture or bulk water out. The absence of sheathing is more problematic from a structural perspective than a moisture barrier perspective. Even if it was sheathed, unless it's the Zip System, the housewrap is your back up bulk water barrier anyway. It is the job of the roof, flashing, and siding to keep bulk water out of the structure. The sheathing doesn't really do that. It's not supposed to. If sheathing is your only barrier to bulk water, you haven't done anything correctly.
Buy older homes!!! It pays to upgrade electric and plumbing when you're getting a well built home in an established neighborhood!!! Common sense people!!!!
In my 30 years in the business I've never before seen a house with no sheer wall installed anywhere. Even Hardi will tell you their siding is not approved for sheer wall! What a bunch of hacks!
my house built in 1987 siding nailed to stud walls, not even a vapor barrier. its T111 siding so its similar to sheathing but imagine no vapor barrier and just sheathing on studs than slap a coat of sears weatherbeater on it and call it good.
@@Mikej1592 T-111= approved for shear wall applications. Lap siding, not so much. A separate plastic vapor barrier is not required if craft faced insulation is used, which was common place in the 80's.
@@jeffscott3160 I see, interesting to know, thanks for that. I do wish there was more than a 2x4 wall for insulation because my neighbors are noisy assholes but at least it is within 1987 code. we've only lived here 2 years and already looking for a new house, this area sucks.
I recently worked on a house built in the sixties that had cedar siding nailed directly to the studs, no sheathing. They did have tar paper and insulation, but you could feel the cold air blowing in from outside anywhere we had to repair the sheetrock. Another recent project was a 1937 home with lap siding, no WRB, no sheathing, but shiplap on the inside of the walls for sheer. There was no insulation in that case and no mold at all in an 80-year old house.
I do ICF’s and the lot I’m building on is in a development where lots go for 150k+. I don’t see how those homes are 250 unless their cutting serious corners.
And guess what...when the sod is ready to be installed they'll just take a bobcat and bury everything half ass and place the sod on top. A few months later youll notice the lawn has never grown in properly. You try to claim warranty on it and they'll just say oh well living plant were not responsible after closing. Just went through that and had to dig up my entire lawn. Found all sorts of crap they tried to bury.
I've been a "remodeling and repair" carpenter for many years. I get to see all the things that "didn't work". Thankfully I have never come across a house like this. No only were there no diagonal braces there was no "fire blocking" in any of the walls. I don't care about the code not calling for fire blocking it is a really important feature for many reasons.
@@bonez747 watch the video, the WRB was attached directly to the studs WITHOUT SHEATHING. Yes people who know what they're doing do OSB or plywood. They used diagonal metal straps on the garage ceiling which still doesn't address wind shear.
I didn’t see any fire blocking any where or fire caulking of any kind…. In Michigan we are required to have fire blocks on all electrical lines…. Also you need something like ply or osb against those studs the water damage is gonna be a problem after a few years ….. we used 1/2 osb with Tyvek wrap…..I hope like he said they will do the flashing well otherwise the water issue is gonna be a very serious one in no time
After 15 yrs working in the residential building industry for multiple companies building anywhere from one hundred-several hundred homes per year as builder as welll as a new home warranty Rep I can tell you i chose to leave the industry for reasons just as this episode states . the industry in itself is overwhelmed with the least sellable quality at the and sold at the highest possible price.The owners of the compaines ive worked would never live in the quality of homes they built. but made lots of money from those that did. We all understand buisness and profit but the amount of corners cut to increase profits never ends in this industry from what ive seen
This video is for the people that thinks that" Jordan, Matt and Co. just bragging about the way they build things" , and "the expenses aren't really worth it" . This a clear example of developing companies cutting corners to make a quick buck at the expenses of an ignorant home buyer. Thank you for the video.
Unfortunately I've been encountering the same thing with multi million dollar houses here in SoCal. One client has a brand new $2 mill Toll Brothers house with an improperly flashed door that leaked and they don't know how to fix properly, keep trying to caulk it. We also discovered the bathroom exhaust vents were never penetrated through the roof, just died into the sheathing. Another brand new $1 mill CalAtlantic home that I opened up a wall in and saw mold behind it forcing remediation, home owner hadn't even moved in yet. This is exactly where I get my passion to want to become a production builder, I am so upset by what the builders are getting away with at any price point. They skimp on the couple extra $ to make the home right, of which this market will gladly pay if they educate them on the difference. There is no reason tract homes have to be crap homes.
Toll brother's build million dollar track homes their superintendents don't know their ass from their elbow I've worked on these homes There is no excuse why they can't build a quality home that will last.just pay your subs better and make sure they understand the building codes
@@artnouveau4332 the superintendent on my parents home in NJ (toll brothers) had some mental deficits and a permanent twitch due to acid consumption in the 70s... this is the kind of quality people they have working there.
John Burger Maybe you are onto something, how many tradesman do you know have made learning the Building Codes as important as learning their trade. Any tradesman that takes the time to do so can be head and shoulders above the rest seems to me.
@@forgedabouted I saw a house that someone i know bought recently and it is still being built. I was amazed at the terrible quality of the framing. I know next to nothing about carpentry and i could have done a better job. There were all kinds of gaps that should not have been there, things were not even square, nails horribly placed etc. It was done by mexicans of course too so...
The house is actually per minimum code, the wind bracing per chapter 6 of the IRC gives several ways to it, one of the ways is outside sheeting, or OSB(wood structural sheathing) another way is to cross brace with in laid diagonal 1x4,, another is metal strapping,, and 1 way to do it is with the interior sheetrock, as long as you do the proper(more stringent) nailing pattern ....the house wrap meats ESR 3729(its printed on the house wrap) look it up,, it meets code for water resistance,,, no builder and I mean no builder including this guy doing the video, uses water proof material under the exterior finish of the house,, unless it's a cement material, such as rock, stucco, or EFIS... Now with that being said ,,,I do not suggest anyone buying a house that is built to minimum code ,,that is the worst possible way you can build a house,,, but what he is showing you meets minimum code.
This may meet code. I've been out of the business for about a decade. Keep in mind code is the minimum standard. As for building inspectors they are just a revenue stream for their municipalities. They hold absolutely no liability for anything. The county I live in didn't have a building codes department until 1992. I'm not saying they are bad people, many are nice guys, but they can only uphold what the book says. I'll bet that the builder has their own mortgage company and that's where they are making the money. I watch the national builders here play this game everyday. I wouldn't buy it. Ever.
I’d rather have a passive energy, well sealed home, with cheap finishes, than the reverse. I can update the finishes more easily than ripping the house apart.
It’s already happened here in Indianapolis this past winter. Literally knocked over a chimney like the only thing holding it on the house was the vinyl siding 🤦🏻♂️
Im here in SW corner of Iowa and that was my first thought too, plus rain and snow never come down, they fall SIDEWAYS, that stuff would be coming right through those walls o.o
That's why I just sheathed this house near Chicago when I did new siding, for the wind loads. The weather is getting crazier and we keep seeing more and more high wind advisories.
We have not had any problems with our Hardiplank siding in the 20 years we have owned our home, BUT then again it was installed over normal sheathing. Thank you for pointing out these shortcuts that the average homeowner would not even notice.
I am a handyman and I flip houses my self every two years. I know lots of people criticize handymans but I am not cheap handyman because I take pride of my work and good quality, I take care of my customers. And I learned a lot from people like you thanks.
Exactly I was a professional union painter for over 25 years and I mostly worked commercial work. We had on site inspectors and or very good inspectors because what we were building were airports, hospitals, post offices and other buildings meant to last for a long time. I did handyman work for years in residential and was appalled at what I saw. I have worked with some small builders that did great quality work. And they actually serviced their warranties. Most big builders try to get out of doing what they say they would do.
Dude, I'm not even in the home construction industry. But his is some good info for first time home buyers. If you stick to providing excellent information, for lay people. I swear your gonna be as big as Chris fix ( car automotive channel) . He has over 2.5 million subscribers
As a Firefighter this is concerning. The rack control or should I say lack of rack control is suprising. Note how they went good install on the AC, it's to pump all the air through the house as it leaks out of every crack. I'm sure the sheet rock is all the rack control a house needs hahahaha........
That's actually something Jordan missed, the siding isn't going to give it any appreciable racking strength but the drywall will. It's not like that's going to come close to the racking strength you get from sheathing a house with 1/2" plywood but I can see how they might be able to get the racking strength that it's engineered for with the drywall.
I was a mechanical inspector years ago. I inquired about buying a new home in the subdivision they were developing. The superintendent of the subdivision flat out told me, you don't want one of these homes. Same cheap practices.
I would never trust drywall for rack strength. For a properly secured build, it can add some strength, but it’s just icing on the cake, so to speak. Also, these thin straps with the few screws or nails, offer very little in strength for a house. They’ll snap off if the shear exceeds the strength of the fastener in, what I presume is wood. The strap itself can shear at the fastener holes. This looks like really thin stuff. In addition, they offer absolutely no resistance at all. The house will fall, but the ceilings, lying on the ground, might still be square.
Great expose. I’m an architect and have often alerted folks to questionable build quality that’s not always obvious to a casual visual inspection. There must have been building inspectors present during the construction of these homes. What did they sign off on? Thanks for this video. You’re doing a valuable public service.
In my former spec home Community neighborhood. One of the housing inspectors visited a job site leaned up on the outside of the house expecting sheathing and went right through like the Kool-Aid Man because it was foam board against the stud walls eventually vinyl siding over that. Until I met that house I didn't know houses could be built with anything other than wood sheathing .
On the bright side though, when the cheap Chinese drywall starts taking humidity and outgassing H2S, it has no way to concentrate itself... the house is too leaky to let it be a health hazard.
They don’t import Chinese drywalls anymore, but cheap drywall is still shit. Just like American union made steel that cracks one week into grand opening of that business terminal.
Quality over size is the way to go. I just built a block home, less than 1,000 sq ft interior but great porches under the roofline front and back. The plan is designed to be added on to. Remove one closet, and continue on out to an addition. The closet was for a bedroom, and us turned into an office with an exterior door.
I pour alot of footings and slabs for these home. Our company delivers a quality product but the finishers wet the concrete up way to much. The footing calls for a 5" slump 3000psi and the finishers make me pour it at a 8" to 10" slump. The slabs are pretty much the same way 3500psi 5" slump but pour at 7" slump. Each gallon of water added to the concrete reduces the strength.
Keith B it will come back and fall on the builders structural warranty which is 10 years in most places. Problem is proving concrete was poured wrong. Concrete is going to crack, we can’t prevent that at all but we can tell it where to crack with saw cuts and expansion joints. As long as it’s not shifting, a crack poses no problems for a home and that is the reason we use rebar to hold everything together. And you must have a good waterproofing and drainage system away from the concrete as well. If all those key elements are in place then a cracked concrete wall or slab will be stable, and will not leak but if anything is left out of the equation then the homeowner will have problems starting in year 2
@@gn4720 No, higher slump is a wetter mix. 0 slump concrete doesn't flow at all. Highest slump I've ever seen was 10.5". It was grey water with 1.5" rocks in it...
In central California, Visalia mainly there are tons on these match stick homes built on old farmland. Now it makes me think of all the chemicals these home owner's and their families are subjected to.
John Kugelfischer, mind blowing man. I know the cities water is tainted but completely over looked how flammable these properties could be. So much for a happy home.
What a crazy waste of resources to build this trash. There are so many beautiful old homes around me built over 100 years ago that will probably stand for 100 more. Nothing special, just well-built homes. And then there is this crap that only has to last just long enough to where the developers don't get sued. It's sad. Thanks for making this video, it's great to know what's out there!
@@NexusCapital What I'm saying is that these homes will never last and see generations of families. They will just get bulldozed and more cheap trash will be built on the lot. If I can pull your siding off and reach my arm through the wall and into your home it's garbage.
@@NexusCapital They definitely had concrete foundations. They leak, but you could fix that if you ever replace the siding. Why should we be building homes in 2019 that leak more than a house from 1919? Plus the concrete from 1919 is legit and you don't have to worry about a builder pouring weak concrete to save money.
@@_PatrickO We build really solid houses here in western Wa State so I dont know what you are talking about. Ive flipped 12 homes in the last few years and remodeled all of them my self. By far the worst construction has been pre 1960 homes. They are all crooked, drafty and clearly did not have inspectors much less building codes. Honestly I have no idea what you are talking about. My experience with old houses has been so bad I won't even buy them anymore. 1980s+ are dreams to work on I love them.
@@KLondike5 that sounds nice but its just not true. You only see the old houses still standing that actually made it. There was tons of total crap built by guys that did not do it for a living but just had some know how. Think about how many of those great "skill amd character" homes have been torn down because they fell apart or sunk into the soil. I use to think all of that but then I started working on all those old houses and realized it was really hit or miss if it was a true craftsman or most likely bill and Ted with a 12pack. They literally insulated houses with newspapers, had no caulk and seal or blower door testing, no vapor barrriers under the homes R-value wasnt even heard of or engineered anything. The only thing on their side was literally tight grained old growth timber that we don't have anymore. Don't fall for the "they dont build em like they use to" meme. It Sounds nice and nostalgic but isn't true.
@@Minecraftizawsom Absolutly, why would you think for a min that it is ANY of your business what someone else wants to live in. I live in a 20ft camper 1/3 of the year by choice, and you think you should have some right to deny me that? Get a life and mined your own.
Jordan, I’m a retired architect and fully agree with your review of the tract construction. Moisture control, whether at walls or windows, is truly crappy. In which state is this being built?
Back in the 90's I worked for a readymix company and we were selling concrete to a builder in Newtown Pa (Pricey area). I was visiting the jobsite and looking at the houses. There was no sheathing. I remember thinking that you could probably break into them through the wall using a steak knife
I've had the same kind of thought about low end houses around here that at times use Bilt-Rite, a fiberboard sheathing product. When you put vinyl siding on that all you'd need is a utility knife to go right through a wall between studs...
To make things worse, a drywall guy on the job told me all the other trades on the job give them a couple bucks to clean up all their trash and they throw it in the walls before they put up the last sheets of drywall. There was a big sign in front of the development that said starting at $249,900. At the time that was a lot of money. I think they were building about six houses per acre
I'm right next door in Yardley and I've watched newer developments go up like that. The easiest way to break into these houses is definitely just cutting through the siding.
um just looked up. by laws of building codes they must put sheeting. the roof load determines the thickness required on walls. report these homes to the city and national building code association. the builder is looking at a huge fine. if you dont report them then you are ok with it and keep allowing people to be screwed over.
The system is corrupt. It's almost guaranteed that local or state officials know exactly what's going on. How can they not? Still they sign off on the work done. Obviously they do, or else these houses wouldn't keep getting built.
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This exact same garbage happens in 100% of new modern automobiles. That's why I boycott all new vehicles, and only support classic cars.
@@johnnocanuck while I agree that there's often corruption, there's also usually too few inspectors covering any given area. Both conditions, sometimes the latter leading (gradually or not so gradually) to the former, are contributing to problems like this.
Oh my! Compared against the quarter million dollars of real money the homeowner will need...what a pittance we're looking at in terms of proper sheathing materials. Once it's covered up, retrofit is very expensive. Sad.
I'm glad to hear good things about the a/c and electrical. I'm sure that will help when the freaking house collapses because of a 60 mph like what happened to northwest Texas about 2 weeks ago. My house built in 1943 with a steel roof didn't have any damage.
Why would having strips of osb be any less strong than sheets of it? This definitely isn't a new practice. Builders have been using a structural siding for decades. I wouldn't want that kind of work, but it meets code.
😂 But such a bargain... I guess the buyer's next home will be mainly duct tape. If they can afford that after paying for a cardboard and plaster model of a house.
Several years ago I saw a custom home built like that in SE Wisconsin, just 12 miles North of the tornado belt. That home was a show home, had a full basketball court in the basement, some weird textured drywall finishes, and they were extremely proud of what they had built. I thought that it was a huge joke.
Joshua Hodge ...True but this house will stripped to the bone long before the storm becomes reasonably strong. A good fart will blow the clapboards off the side.
Joshua Hodge ...Once the sub floors are nailed in, and pray they use plywood over OSB (which I doubt), there will be rigidity to the structure but building a house without siding should be against building codes. It must be noisy af when you're in the house. My shed is built better.
@@blipco5 I use 3/8 inch plywood for walls and 3/4 inch plywood for roofing. Sure, it costs more but OSB isn't waterproof. A leak when spotted has been leaking for years. It's only expensive when you have to rebuild a house because contractors cheat. Do it right the first time.
My house in Swansea Massachusetts was built in 1912 and is still standing strong. It’s been through some major hurricanes with little to no damage. Southern yellow pine construction 😊 I’m in the construction industry and know what I bought 20yrs ago. I could never build anything like what you are showing and sleep at night. Feel badly for the young families strapped in a huge mortgage for those cardboard boxes.
man i loved UT video. when u said $150 sq ft my jaw dropped. as u walked through i thought maybe $100 sq ft. we're looking at building in the next 5 years. I am educating myself now. thanks!
To me, another good sign that you didn't mention is the cleanliness of the job site. The places you visited looked like trash dumps. That translates to a slovenly approach to everything else and would turn me off.
I thought that as well. I did low voltage for a long time and most places I went to pull wire where very organized. High rises to housing developments. There where a few time the places where crappy but they where far apart.
Looks like a Chinese construction site. At least in China they have the excuse that every night, random people will be picking up the scrap wood for their charcoal business, taking the damaged bricks to make a sidewalk, selling the scrap steel & plastic to recyclers, etc. Mind you, I suppose this building site is remote enough that it doesn't really matter, as long as it's not dangerous to the crew.
@@jeffreyquinn3820 In America the poor pick new construction clean for copper and panels. These look nothing like any type of Asian construction. I kinda just think you wanted some reason to bash China.
I've been to hundreds of track home build sites in nor cal, they all looked like that. And the construction methods made me cringe, and I know very little about it. One thing that always bothered me was the use of the simpson style plate ties that require no nails(?), they just have little spikes on them. Those were used everywhere (on joins, sorry not sure what the technical name is), with no nails. Not sure how those hold together for 30 to 40 years. Btw, i delivered hvac materials, and every job sight was an absolute nightmare to get into, just piles of garbage everywhere (and no offense, but no one even spoke English). Flex duct was the only thing used, except for maybe some short runs of riser (for vent hoods or to go through narrow areas) or b-vent for gas exhaust.
That house will have black mold within a year. That is insanity that hardy board is the only thing between the outside and inside! Lol criminals could break into your home in between the studs just by smashing some hardy board! 😳
No insanity is the electric and gas bill for that house each month if it isn't properly insulated then that means you are going to have a $500 or more bill! How does paying a gas/electric bill of $1,000 sound to you!😱
As an educated person on construction I've been trying to tell people how poorly most of the new homes I see are being built. They are charging 150-200 per SF and the houses just aren't well built.
My farmhouse was built in the 1890's and has dimensional lumber, 1" tongue and groove exterior and interior sheeting. Also, cedar exterior siding. Plaster and lathe interior walls. Still as solid as the day it was built.
Yes. I build with only dimensional lumber and plywood. I don't use one piece of osb anywhere in the houses I build. I'll never understand why builders would use osb in a damp climate where I build. You're just asking for problems down the road.
@@jamie.777 that can easily be removed or painted over. The lead doesn't radiate into the air, (unless its flaking off) it has to be ingested to affect someone
In my neck of the woods homes built like this have actually blown over during construction. Metal strapped framing and everything complete except for the cladding. 45 mph wind toppled them.
@@richardwaldron222 thats hard to estimate. depends on how much water it has trapped in it. in the spring a foot or two of snow getting rained on can weigh alot. a good stiff breeze when this house is loaded and the roof will turn 90 degrees as it falls on top of the homeowners and crush everything beneath it.
Thank You So Much! Someone’s Gotta Say Something! My Mom Is Not In Construction But Said It Was So Obvious She Didn’t Need To Be To See All The Shoddy Work Being Done. Nails Going Through Boards Not Connecting To Anything On The Other Side…And So Much More! We Appreciate Your Integrity And Your Voice For Truth! 👊
Great video. My question though, for someone that really has no building expertise, or is just the typical DIY-er, what are the main things to look for to find a quality-built house? Also, do you know any major builders that talk about (and follow through) quality work from their perspective?
Same here, but that's pretty universal for every major home builder, though. They all have a corporate cookie cutter process and use the same suppliers and subcontactors regardless of house. Go into a new D.R. Horton subdivision of $160k Express homes and go into a new D.R. Horton subdivision of $400k luxury homes, and the build quality is identical... They're using the same framers, same plumbers, same electricians, etc, all lowest bidders. Even some furnishings you'll find a lot of similarities, because they purchase in bulk...for instance interior bedroom doors and hardware may be identical, or appliances, vanities, etc. When you buy an expensive luxury home with a large corporate home builder, really you're just paying more for extra square footage, different architecture, and upgraded exterior material.
The sad thing is, that these houses could be built right for the same amount of money, but not when you have contractors who basically get half the money for bidding and organizing subcontract labor. I used to work in new home construction decades ago. When old school builders had their own crews, paid them well, and were actually involved in the job, the supervision and the quality control. But we had an influx of people with little or no experience, and nothing but a pager (just before cell phones) and a pickup truck, who suddenly were building contractors, expecting to make more money than all the crews put together. That is when we started seeing illegal laborers flooding the market, sub par material, and corners cut that no experienced builder would ever allow on his job. I continued to run paint crews for a while after that, and saw the same thing happen in my field as well. Out of necessity, I ended up working for a guy who had worked as an apprentice framer for 6 months, before borrowing money from his dad to start a painting business. He knew absolutely nothing, and for the first year, I was constantly fighting with him about doing the job right. I had some success in getting him to trust my judgement, and ended up as his foreman, and the company took off, and we did good work, but he was very stubborn and never learned anything, I finally got tired of the same old fight and left the company after 6 years. After I left, he went back to the same mistakes, and was sued into oblivion. He went from apartment and condo production and repaints, to million dollar residential and commercial contracts, back to a 2 man crew and his pickup doing cheap resprays. I have seen this repeated over and over, and when one goes out of business, there is another one just like him to take his place. If you don't know the builder, well enough to know his work, you are better off walking away. I would estimate that this is about 80 percent of what is out there now. the good work is done by the other 20 percent, who out of conscience, still make less than the know nothings.
I agree completely. My rule of thumb is if the boss shows up in a pickup with a tool belt, take the job. If he/she shows up in an Escalade with a cell phone, run like hell.
@@SafeTeeB Very good advice. Unless the boss shows up in an unscratched $80,000 truck and a belt full of brand new tools, and his daddy cosigned all his loans. In which case, call a babysitter.
The real reason for foreign workers is there are some corners American workers won't cut, and some safety regulations American workers won't break. I have nothing but respect for people who leave their home behind to make a better life for their children, but none for the rich people who exploit them.
I was a roofer, but quit because I couldn't work for soft handed "builders" anymore. The industry is run by greedy know nothing's who rip off workers and customers alike. Like you said, there are still a hand full of teal craftsmen who take pride in their work but they are being pushed out.
I've seen this done years ago before you were in the trade. This stuff falls apart in 10-15 years after the checks have been cashed. You are dead on with your assessment of this mess.
As a general rule, you don't have to wrap the entirety of a house in plywood or OSB. It's not a bad idea, and there are benefits to it, but it is not necessary for a proper moisture barrier or for structural strength. That being said, the COMPLETE lack of wood sheeting is concerning.
teraxiel Isn’t it supposed to be sheathed with plywood on each corner to maintain lateral stability? Those ceiling straps in the garage won’t address this. Scary if lateral stability isn’t addressed and that the homeowner won’t be aware of it. 🤦♂️
Lots of older homes by Craftsman (read: Sears) were built with the siding directly on the studs, and many without any tarpaper or rosin paper under the clap siding. I have seen some done with the studs on 24" centers and even roof rafters that are 2x4 or 2x6 on 24" centers. Not sure what holds 'em up but they are still standing 80 years later.
Old growth lumber with 15 growth rings per inch instead of new growth pine with 3-5 growth rings per inch...huge strength difference between wood used 80 yrs ago and todays...I've seen many flat laid double 2x4 headers..old Douglas fir is no joke.
I bought my grandma a new manufactured home after her house burned down. It’s not a top of the line home but also it’s not a bottom of the barrel either. I looked at how the house was built the floor joist are 2x8 all of the wall studs are 2x4 and they used engineering trusses for the roof everything was covered with OSB sheathing and the floors are 3/4 inch plywood, overall the structure is very solid. The house wasn’t all that expensive under 100k for setup and everything I think it will last her a long time and it’s very energy efficient her light bill is under $150 in the summer in east Texas.
Those houses can be quite difficult to keep warm in the super rare occasion the temperatures drop to single digits for a few consecutive days in Austin, TX. The plumbing on the outside walls is at great risk of freezing.
Videos like this make me feel a little better about my leaky 70s split-level home that is consistently 7 degrees hotter upstairs. It's built like a tank!
In Sweden är windscreen-plasic om the outside and a moisture barrier on the inside. It's so you don't push moisture in to the wall when heating a home and stop wind from penetrating the between the boards. Having moisture barriers on both sides leads to mould problems in our climate.
The South in the United States has a hot and humid climate (with maybe three months out of the year being cold winter, but not nearly as cold as Sweden, northern U.S., or Canada), so the moisture barrier is on the outside and there is no barrier on the inside.
How does this pass energy star? There is no way that the HVAC can qualify, not with that much air leakage! At least they used a proper header above the garage doors. I often see 2x4s stacked as a header.
Very few builders build to energy star standards. In Dallas Fort Worth it is only a handful of builders that are energy star certified on every home. Most do not build to any energy protocol.
@@urbanplanner7200 New houses should be as air tight as possible. It's a myth that a house has to breathe. It's a complete waste of energy (which means tons of money).
I purchased a house in 2016 in Temple, TX and being a former electrician I discovered that the electricians ran 12 awg from the panel(s) and then at the first box switched everything to 14 awg and everything is on a 20 amp breaker and I let the city inspectors know what I discovered and they blew me off why you may ask? Because they NEVER had done a final electrical inspection or a occupancy permit for my house and they put 1” foam on the exterior of the house then put hardy plank siding over the foam board and this was a Omega home. These houses are put up cheap but charge you for a premium home
Crikey, those homes must be the one location in the US without hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes. What's to hold that damn house together or to the foundation? Flimsy strapping in the ceiling doesn't do squat. That worthless wrap is probably a blessing in disguise as that home will likely rot before it gets destroyed by a big storm
Uh... is there not even any nogging in the walls? Woven plastic sheathing with hardiboard only, no racking? Are there not applicable engineering standards for a house that won't blow over in a stiff breeze or go up in flames like a roman candle? Someone had to sign off on the architectural plan...
A Friend and I have stayed in some apartments in the last few years. They have NO noise proofing between the 1st and 2nd floors. It sounds like elephants walking above You.
We had a house built in a development in NC several years ago. Before we even thought about committing to buy in any development (and there were plenty being built in the area) we went through the developments on Sunday evenings, when no one from the builders / developers was around ans walked through the houses under construction, much the same way as in this video. You could easily tell which builders were doing it right and which were cutting corners. Building techniques, engineering of the homes, quality of materials, etc. We narrowed it down to two builders we were comfortable with and went on from there. We also drove by our house at random times during the construction and checked on what they were up to. It did help that my Brother - in Law was a contractor and i had worked for him during summers my Jr & Sr year of college, so at least I had a decent idea of what I was looking at.
They need to have a third party supervise the build and right strict code requirements in the build contract. But if you already bought one of these turds, there are almost no consumer protection laws in housing industry, it's a scam artist's dream.
I'm a custom home builder and I love that you're doing videos like this. I build on an island, so we have to engineer for windstorm requirements. I always tell people not to buy new homes inland where there are no windstorm requirements because I've seen them use t ply for sheathing and I'm absolutely shocked. I use 5/8" cdx for all sheathing and decking and of course the house is clipped and strapped like crazy. My framer once told me, everyone deserves a good house no matter the size or cost. I agree.
SO what's to stop someone from breaking through that big glass window in the living room? A whole lot easier that breaking through a wall . . . and you don't have those pesky studs in the way.
That's true. My dad built a house in 93, I remember the delays because the inspectors couldn't get there. One okayed th septic on the phone. The lateral were running uphill, I knew that was wrong, pooled water from the start. His permit for a driveway was never inspected, but our county officials are lazy.
Once outside of city limits, inspections become rarer and rarer. You might get a local fire dept to do a basic electrical inspection, but that's about it. Seeing as those houses are in a field, there might not be much in the way of permitting and inspections.
Jordan, Thank you for the information. This is also a problem with Flips. Purchased a home, with a catalog of issues from the inspection. Seller supposedly fixed, but only covered enough to pass a re-inspect. One month in, and I was already finding issues with the shoddy work. HVAC systems not functioning as they should or not technically installed properly. Walls not insulated or like this new build siding covered only (found this doing electrical where I could see light from outside around the light switch), unsealed outer walls allowing water intrusion between the floor and slab. Improperly installed windows, and roof. These things are a nightmare for buyers new and old alike.
Everything built in Arizona post mid to late 80's has two strikes going against it. 1) Flimsy cheap construction like seen in this video. and 2) It's almost certainly going to be in an HOA.
all the sheeple ever say is that "regulation drives up prices", but regulation is what prevents these monstrosity from happening. these builders would sell you a $250,000 cardboard box if they could. I did construction and remodeling in the mid-west, then I and moved to Texas for 3 years and was absolutely disgusted by the build quality. all these mass housing development companies are all the same Ryland homes, Lennar, parry homes, ect. absolutely abysmal workmanship. and in the building community especially these homes are a crime against humanity.
In Idaho these would be Corey Barton homes. These type of contractors are everywhere you go and it's a damn shame. I own a fence company and there is absolutely no regulation on it so you can imagine the tragedy that is some of the work I see.
Yup in the long run LACK of regulation costs more in the long run. Unfortunately everybody has short term thinking. So listen when a politician says I am getting rid of heinous red tape to let business be profitable. Listen to people in the know like this guy. Great 👍 commentary.
Sara H --> Hey! That builder had to pay huge bribes to the inspectors for turning their backs on these mold pits. This is America, that's how things work, Damn it.
This is why I'd much rather have old house problems, than new house problems. Just no comparison in build quality. There can be major maintenance issues, at times, but then I see that nightmarish Chinese drywall scam that makes people sick and literally corrodes the wiring in the house. Issues like that are irreparable, and the npow sick home owners often have to write it off completely, after having sunk their life savings into it.
My 80 year old house have only 1x6 wooded siding, and the 2x4 framing are 24 inches on center. No vapor barrier, but it also had 1x6 on the inside before the drywall. This is actually not a bad idea, if they use closed cell foam on the walls
Houses are becoming like everything else in America.
Not meant to last.
Velislide builders like this make all other builders look bad. They know what they can cut corners on and do just to make a dollar. Pretty sad that those greedy bastards don’t care about the product or the consumer.
Great information. There are people who care about others, and some that don't. A house is too big of an investment so find an honest contractor.
Its not just in the USA, its the same here in the UK and probably most countries. You cant lay all the blame on the cowboy builders though, if the authorities let them get away with it they will. I wouldn't have a new house given. All the properties i have ever owned have all been over 200 years old and will be standing 200 years after this modern crap has fallen down.
contractor built houses are not secure and safe.
When I started billing my home in 1966, I made the foundation reinforced with rebar and crankshaft and 3 feet thick. 2x8 walls solid braced with 3/4 pressure treat plywood sheathing screwed in with 2" intervals. Lag bolts hold framing together. 2x12 roof joists. Ends of roof have 3/16" steel plates sandwiched by 2x12s. It was a lot of work but it survived several hurricanes and a couple of tornadoes while neighborhood homes were demolished.
When people want cheap houses, they get cheap houses. Buy a quality home new or used and have a home that will last several lifetimes
I've been building since 2002, quality is about the same. The difference is back then you got a crappy house for a cheap price. Now they are selling the crappy houses for about the same price as an expensive home so builders are more likely to build a crappy home.
Even more true today.
$450k cash on payment $680k for crappy houses using plastic water lines not copper and plastic electric extension not metal conduit cheap is possible to make a bunch profit
Must be Dallas. Bought our new house in Feb. 2022. Yeah, these new tract homes suck, they always have.
I miss my grandpa he was a home builder back when they only had the basic tools
@@TeslaBoy123 I recently converted my entire plumbing system from copper to pex, it’s a better system, especially for the homeowner. Copper pipe can burst under colder climate temperatures, pex will not. It’s significantly easier to manage as a homeowner long term as well.
Plastic conduit meets electrical code with todays standards and is definite a long term option, not sure why you’d NEED metal conduit of plastic does why is needed.
My husband showed me a brand new house today that had this product on it. I had no idea. It was raining and I touched it and it was swollen with moisture. I had no idea you could even do this. The houses were beautiful but they will never last. I got home and looked it up to find your video. You are absolutely spot on about this.
We need more videos like this to educate the public on what's really going on behind the walls. I built my own homes all my life because these corporate developers are the biggest cheap crooks out there, and I just plain like building quality houses. They take an expensive piece of real estate and build Trash on it. It's like this everywhere where there is a developer involved.Time and time again I witness shoddy workmanship that gets passed just because the inspector says "we only inspect to make sure the building is safe and to code" Most buyers who don't know any better only looks at cosmetics and not what's holding it together. Thanks Jordan for this video. Please keep it up. These greedy developers need to be exposed!
Want to hear something ironic? The last quality home I built, the inspector told me that this was one of the best built homes he's ever seen but I am afraid that since you built your own home, it does not quality for the Ontario New Home Owners Insurance Program". But the crap like Jordan showed you in this video does. The construction industry is going nowhere fast!
As your fellow Canadian, a carpenter-contractor for 56 yrs, I'm astonished they can build a house for $150 square foot! Here in BC we estimate the average new house comes in at $350 a sq ft. I may build a carport for that, but not much else!
Good night and good luck, from beautiful Esquimalt BC.
@@josephefasciani7343 I finished my last build in CO in 2010 at 60/ft2. Of course I did most of the work myself, but the numbers you are talking about are perplexing...
We had these public figures a long time ago during the dark ages, they were called investigative reporters that would do anything to get the real story, they have reached extinction, can they be saved?!?!?
Most developers build as cheap as they can get away with, then they'll put lipstick on a pig.
Retired carpenter here. I live in a 100 year old farmhouse built out of solid oak. All rafters, framing, side sheathing, basement stairs - -- all old growth oak. Hard to drive a nail into it without pre-drilling. The lumber sold today in the big box stores is basically firewood.
Spackle, caulk and paint,,,,, make you what you aint. I have been in the construction industry for 41 years, just retired. I understand lots of folks not liking building codes, but they are there to protect the unknowing and clueless. Inspections, specifications and liscensing of of contractors will build a better product. Quality does not cost, quality pays.
what's the old saying... the bitterness of poor quality longs outlasts the sweetness of low price.
"Good" work is never cheap and "Cheap" work is never good...
It didn't help in this case.
I couldn't believe there was no sheathing. Honestly didn't believe it at first
@@phillhuddleston9445 Isn't this in Texas? Notorious for lax codes?
Been a interior trim carpenter for 25 years. Houses have went to hell in a hand basket. No way i would buy a new home.
I was thinking of a new build (cookie cutter houses) but no development in my area that I could find would sheath the entire house. They just hope that just the ends of the house is all you need. This is a majority of the houses in my area. I'll buy a brick home and renovate it myself. At least the brick homes from the '50s were built proper.
Why? Like seriously? One could argue anything after the 30’s is built like trash.
@@mrUsa051 you could maybe say that the quality of the materials has lessened, but at least people knew what they were doing for the most part. But still the difference in quality and materials from a house built in the '50s to a cookie cutter modern house is huge. Unfortunately the people who are subcontracted to build these houses have no skills. No morals. So they just build like s*** because they don't know how to build better and all that matters is speed. On top of that they simply don't care because nobody is holding them accountable.
I brought my new construction home last year. My builder was a self employed mom and pop business.. got a inspection and was told the builder went above and beyond code... and my builder made himself available to me if anything came up he stood by the quality of his work.... when I first started looking at builders I noticed the large companies over charged and did substandard work
Who's your builder ? Y'all should recommend
Who's your builder if I may ask? I want a builder who truly knows what hes talking about. Maybe he got a website? a phone number?
thanks!🇺🇸🇮🇱
Indeed. The big builders have little to lose by doing half-assed work (they leave the liability to the insurance companies).
I used a local mom&pop to build my custom house. It was okay, but still had some minor problems and now I have mold in my vented crawlspace after 16 years; not their fault, of course. But I am learning about vapor barriers and condensation and air movements. Walls need to "breathe" especially in warm, humid areas. The video looks like Texas, maybe near the coast with that black dirt.
I'm a siding contractor and I see this all the time on houses that need new siding , we sheet it after removing the old siding
My crap vinyl siding is attached to structural foam... Cheapest builds ever.
Neil Lee That’s great that you install more than what’s required, and of course you are also familiar with the requirements by code and each siding manufacturer,Hardi etc. Nice to see guys going beyond for the sake of their customer.
Same I hate treating apart houses only to find shoddy materials held together with caulk and a wish.
That was commonly done for house clad in T1-11 siding decades ago. Its rated to be both sheathing and siding, but obviously sucks at being a water barrier and for air sealing.
@@bigpjohnson There was a house across the street that when the people moved out I walked over and was able to put my hand though the T 1 11 siding and right into the house. It has since been re roofed and double walled re constructed, the right way.
This is part of the reason I quit my last job with a home builder. I was a complete novice. But I was not comfortable with some of the shortcuts that we were taking. I’ve seen stuff like this before. The sloppy job site outside is telling as well.
I agree! The condition of the job site tells you EVERYTHING you need to know about the builder and the build quality of the house.
Sounds like to me that you got fired and you’re bitter.
@@SpringScapes nah. I just walked away one day. But I do wish I could’ve hung in there longer. He was a new builder, but I did learn a lot on that job. And he had even offered to help me get my license as well. It just wasn’t a good work environment. But no job is perfect.
SOLD as is, where is! Engineered to be recycled by a Tornado. Builder takes the money and RUNNNNNNN
You mean RUN$$$$$$$$$$$.
And thats why i pay so much to live in California
Dont have to worry about tornadoes here
I think this is the fault of the government, I don’t blame the builder one bit, it should be the government that regulates this
Fast 😂
Well, to be fair, any home would be recycled by a tornado regardless of it's engineering. But these homes suck for sure.
Thanks for holding your phone in landscape mode it makes a huge difference.
That wrap is not designed to be water tight. It is classified as vapour-permeable-membrane, and here in Australia we use it instead of a waterproof membrane for a reason.
It allows the building to dry out from the inside out. I saw a comment above about black mould being in the walls within a few years. Nine times out of ten mould will grow when moisture is trapped and has no where to go.
But where is the biggest threat from moisture ingress into walls? It’s from the humans living inside. The moisture comes form all the cooking showering and most of all breathing, that we humans love to do all day long. This warm and humid air wants to get outside just as much as the cold air wants to get inside. This produces condensation on the colder outer layer of the wall system, in this case the Hardie siding. Having a waterproof layer will only cause this condensate to remain in the walls and grow mould.
But there IS NO WALL
Cooking, showering and breathing is a human necessity. Not something we love to do all day. It's not an option.
@jifffy999 He's not criticizing you, just educating you, and he is 100% correct. The day to day activities that take place inside the home introduce a ton of moisture into the house. It has to be able to dry to the outside. Controlling moisture from the outside is about keeping bulk water out of the structure. That is the job of the roof, siding, and flashing first, then, as a backup, the housewrap. If it's getting to the housewrap, that's indicative of other issues with the aforementioned systems.
@@MichaelBarnes-ey7sjWalls, (sheathing), don't keep moisture or bulk water out. The absence of sheathing is more problematic from a structural perspective than a moisture barrier perspective. Even if it was sheathed, unless it's the Zip System, the housewrap is your back up bulk water barrier anyway. It is the job of the roof, flashing, and siding to keep bulk water out of the structure. The sheathing doesn't really do that. It's not supposed to. If sheathing is your only barrier to bulk water, you haven't done anything correctly.
@@Jeff-v2c i live in a submarine,i here they are pretty good at keeping water out.
Its simple. The houses are built to sell and not built to last.
A realtor has said this shit to my face, about half a mill homes, I would have laughed but it was so insulting i was dumbfounded.
The money we paid to build a home to last, not few dollar, 15 or 30 year odf debt. if realtor with that attitude would cancel the commission
Seems like banks would want these places to be built to last since they make obscene amounts of money on them over the years.
Fk it. I’ll take one. I’ve never owned land.
Buy older homes!!! It pays to upgrade electric and plumbing when you're getting a well built home in an established neighborhood!!! Common sense people!!!!
In my 30 years in the business I've never before seen a house with no sheer wall installed anywhere. Even Hardi will tell you their siding is not approved for sheer wall! What a bunch of hacks!
my house built in 1987 siding nailed to stud walls, not even a vapor barrier. its T111 siding so its similar to sheathing but imagine no vapor barrier and just sheathing on studs than slap a coat of sears weatherbeater on it and call it good.
@@Mikej1592
Wowowowow.....
UNBELIEVABLE.....
@@Mikej1592 T-111= approved for shear wall applications. Lap siding, not so much. A separate plastic vapor barrier is not required if craft faced insulation is used, which was common place in the 80's.
@@jeffscott3160 I see, interesting to know, thanks for that. I do wish there was more than a 2x4 wall for insulation because my neighbors are noisy assholes but at least it is within 1987 code. we've only lived here 2 years and already looking for a new house, this area sucks.
I recently worked on a house built in the sixties that had cedar siding nailed directly to the studs, no sheathing. They did have tar paper and insulation, but you could feel the cold air blowing in from outside anywhere we had to repair the sheetrock. Another recent project was a 1937 home with lap siding, no WRB, no sheathing, but shiplap on the inside of the walls for sheer. There was no insulation in that case and no mold at all in an 80-year old house.
You are an ANGEL for bringing this to the public knowledge.!!!
The landscape around those houses during the building process, tells everything you need to know about the quality of the houses being built.
Yes it does.
I do ICF’s and the lot I’m building on is in a development where lots go for 150k+. I don’t see how those homes are 250 unless their cutting serious corners.
YEP!! You can tell a craftman's skill by how he keeps his work area!
You can come inspect all you want 😍
And guess what...when the sod is ready to be installed they'll just take a bobcat and bury everything half ass and place the sod on top. A few months later youll notice the lawn has never grown in properly.
You try to claim warranty on it and they'll just say oh well living plant were not responsible after closing.
Just went through that and had to dig up my entire lawn. Found all sorts of crap they tried to bury.
I've been a "remodeling and repair" carpenter for many years. I get to see all the things that "didn't work". Thankfully I have never come across a house like this. No only were there no diagonal braces there was no "fire blocking" in any of the walls. I don't care about the code not calling for fire blocking it is a really important feature for many reasons.
The diagonal bracing in this house was 7/16 osb which they didn’t install. Nothing else needed
@@bonez747 watch the video, the WRB was attached directly to the studs WITHOUT SHEATHING. Yes people who know what they're doing do OSB or plywood. They used diagonal metal straps on the garage ceiling which still doesn't address wind shear.
I didn’t see any fire blocking any where or fire caulking of any kind…. In Michigan we are required to have fire blocks on all electrical lines…. Also you need something like ply or osb against those studs the water damage is gonna be a problem after a few years ….. we used 1/2 osb with Tyvek wrap…..I hope like he said they will do the flashing well otherwise the water issue is gonna be a very serious one in no time
After 15 yrs working in the residential building industry for multiple companies building anywhere from one hundred-several hundred homes per year as builder as welll as a new home warranty Rep I can tell you i chose to leave the industry for reasons just as this episode states . the industry in itself is overwhelmed with the least sellable quality at the and sold at the highest possible price.The owners of the compaines ive worked would never live in the quality of homes they built. but made lots of money from those that did. We all understand buisness and profit but the amount of corners cut to increase profits never ends in this industry from what ive seen
This video is for the people that thinks that" Jordan, Matt and Co. just bragging about the way they build things" , and "the expenses aren't really worth it" . This a clear example of developing companies cutting corners to make a quick buck at the expenses of an ignorant home buyer. Thank you for the video.
This building is the stuff of nightmares. My heart breaks for the soon to be home owner of this mess.
The house wrap is a wick not a water proofer. What concerns me is the no sheeting. Weak structure will collapse in time.
Unfortunately I've been encountering the same thing with multi million dollar houses here in SoCal. One client has a brand new $2 mill Toll Brothers house with an improperly flashed door that leaked and they don't know how to fix properly, keep trying to caulk it. We also discovered the bathroom exhaust vents were never penetrated through the roof, just died into the sheathing. Another brand new $1 mill CalAtlantic home that I opened up a wall in and saw mold behind it forcing remediation, home owner hadn't even moved in yet.
This is exactly where I get my passion to want to become a production builder, I am so upset by what the builders are getting away with at any price point. They skimp on the couple extra $ to make the home right, of which this market will gladly pay if they educate them on the difference. There is no reason tract homes have to be crap homes.
Toll brother's build million dollar track homes their superintendents don't know their ass from their elbow I've worked on these homes There is no excuse why they can't build a quality home that will last.just pay your subs better and make sure they understand the building codes
@@artnouveau4332 the superintendent on my parents home in NJ (toll brothers) had some mental deficits and a permanent twitch due to acid consumption in the 70s... this is the kind of quality people they have working there.
Toll brothers is a publicly traded company so we got to keep the stock price going up and pay the CEO millions every year
John Burger Maybe you are onto something, how many tradesman do you know have made learning the Building Codes as important as learning their trade. Any tradesman that takes the time to do so can be head and shoulders above the rest seems to me.
That is scary as hell. I am also from california and the price of housing is ridiculous
The cost of putting plywood is not that much , and where is the building inspector for framing .
at the golf course enjoying his payoff
@@forgedabouted I saw a house that someone i know bought recently and it is still being built. I was amazed at the terrible quality of the framing. I know next to nothing about carpentry and i could have done a better job. There were all kinds of gaps that should not have been there, things were not even square, nails horribly placed etc. It was done by mexicans of course too so...
The house is actually per minimum code, the wind bracing per chapter 6 of the IRC gives several ways to it, one of the ways is outside sheeting, or OSB(wood structural sheathing) another way is to cross brace with in laid diagonal 1x4,, another is metal strapping,, and 1 way to do it is with the interior sheetrock, as long as you do the proper(more stringent) nailing pattern ....the house wrap meats ESR 3729(its printed on the house wrap) look it up,, it meets code for water resistance,,, no builder and I mean no builder including this guy doing the video, uses water proof material under the exterior finish of the house,, unless it's a cement material, such as rock, stucco, or EFIS... Now with that being said ,,,I do not suggest anyone buying a house that is built to minimum code ,,that is the worst possible way you can build a house,,, but what he is showing you meets minimum code.
I am a old builder and one thing I have learned in over 50 years in the trade is that "the cheap man pays the most".
This may meet code. I've been out of the business for about a decade. Keep in mind code is the minimum standard. As for building inspectors they are just a revenue stream for their municipalities. They hold absolutely no liability for anything. The county I live in didn't have a building codes department until 1992. I'm not saying they are bad people, many are nice guys, but they can only uphold what the book says. I'll bet that the builder has their own mortgage company and that's where they are making the money. I watch the national builders here play this game everyday. I wouldn't buy it. Ever.
I’d rather have a passive energy, well sealed home, with cheap finishes, than the reverse. I can update the finishes more easily than ripping the house apart.
Tyler Pyper money
Agreed. A good step is to use actual sheathing and high quality windows and doors.
that is terrifying.
here in the midwest, I could see a straight line wind coming through and taking out half that neighborhood
It’s already happened here in Indianapolis this past winter. Literally knocked over a chimney like the only thing holding it on the house was the vinyl siding 🤦🏻♂️
They are EVERYWHERE.
Im here in SW corner of Iowa and that was my first thought too, plus rain and snow never come down, they fall SIDEWAYS, that stuff would be coming right through those walls o.o
That's why I just sheathed this house near Chicago when I did new siding, for the wind loads. The weather is getting crazier and we keep seeing more and more high wind advisories.
@waterside do you have a better description for the possibility of suddenly being crushed in your house 🤔
Good lawd! The Kool Aid man can just walk effortlessly through that drywall!!
Nice comment 😆
Oh YEAH!!
The Kool Aid man wouldn't bother, he would send his under study, why would he waste his time for that?
OH NO!!
I often hear people from 3rd world asking why American houses are made of cardboard
We have not had any problems with our Hardiplank siding in the 20 years we have owned our home, BUT then again it was installed over normal sheathing. Thank you for pointing out these shortcuts that the average homeowner would not even notice.
Thank the Democraps & illegals for the poor building trades.
I am a handyman and I flip houses my self every two years. I know lots of people criticize handymans but I am not cheap handyman because I take pride of my work and good quality, I take care of my customers. And I learned a lot from people like you thanks.
Exactly I was a professional union painter for over 25 years and I mostly worked commercial work. We had on site inspectors and or very good inspectors because what we were building were airports, hospitals, post offices and other buildings meant to last for a long time. I did handyman work for years in residential and was appalled at what I saw. I have worked with some small builders that did great quality work. And they actually serviced their warranties. Most big builders try to get out of doing what they say they would do.
Handyman vs "pro", same thing, none of the trades are rocket science.
Dude, I'm not even in the home construction industry. But his is some good info for first time home buyers. If you stick to providing excellent information, for lay people. I swear your gonna be as big as Chris fix ( car automotive channel) . He has over 2.5 million subscribers
As a master electrician , the box for the switch i seen is needing to have at least 6 inches of free conductor of wire out of the box .
As a Firefighter this is concerning. The rack control or should I say lack of rack control is suprising. Note how they went good install on the AC, it's to pump all the air through the house as it leaks out of every crack. I'm sure the sheet rock is all the rack control a house needs hahahaha........
That's actually something Jordan missed, the siding isn't going to give it any appreciable racking strength but the drywall will. It's not like that's going to come close to the racking strength you get from sheathing a house with 1/2" plywood but I can see how they might be able to get the racking strength that it's engineered for with the drywall.
I was a mechanical inspector years ago. I inquired about buying a new home in the subdivision they were developing. The superintendent of the subdivision flat out told me, you don't want one of these homes. Same cheap practices.
I would never trust drywall for rack strength. For a properly secured build, it can add some strength, but it’s just icing on the cake, so to speak. Also, these thin straps with the few screws or nails, offer very little in strength for a house. They’ll snap off if the shear exceeds the strength of the fastener in, what I presume is wood. The strap itself can shear at the fastener holes. This looks like really thin stuff. In addition, they offer absolutely no resistance at all. The house will fall, but the ceilings, lying on the ground, might still be square.
Rack control... I was wondering what the proscribed nomenclature, for. Common Sense. Was in the context of this particular field.
@@christopheremery5910 rack control = sports bra
Great expose. I’m an architect and have often alerted folks to questionable build quality that’s not always obvious to a casual visual inspection.
There must have been building inspectors present during the construction of these homes. What did they sign off on?
Thanks for this video. You’re doing a valuable public service.
In my former spec home Community neighborhood. One of the housing inspectors visited a job site leaned up on the outside of the house expecting sheathing and went right through like the Kool-Aid Man because it was foam board against the stud walls eventually vinyl siding over that. Until I met that house I didn't know houses could be built with anything other than wood sheathing .
On the bright side though, when the cheap Chinese drywall starts taking humidity and outgassing H2S, it has no way to concentrate itself... the house is too leaky to let it be a health hazard.
Great point ! The builder just cares about the health of the home !
lol ;-)
Nice
easy to scapegoat the chinese, lets the american companies that are selling this shit off the hook
They don’t import Chinese drywalls anymore, but cheap drywall is still shit. Just like American union made steel that cracks one week into grand opening of that business terminal.
@@inkbold8511 generally speaking,
(US made/anything) > (anywhere else/ anything) everybody makes mistakes though
That house will breathe well.
Hahaha too true! When the insulation gets soggy from the rain at least it will be able to dry out again... hopefully before it gets moldy!
I laughed out loud at that comment.
It will either breathe well, or become mold infested within a few months.
ROFL
Like an Olympic sprinter.
and collaps like a pneumothorax lung
Quality over size is the way to go. I just built a block home, less than 1,000 sq ft interior but great porches under the roofline front and back.
The plan is designed to be added on to. Remove one closet, and continue on out to an addition.
The closet was for a bedroom, and us turned into an office with an exterior door.
I pour alot of footings and slabs for these home. Our company delivers a quality product but the finishers wet the concrete up way to much. The footing calls for a 5" slump 3000psi and the finishers make me pour it at a 8" to 10" slump. The slabs are pretty much the same way 3500psi 5" slump but pour at 7" slump. Each gallon of water added to the concrete reduces the strength.
So if there is failures on any of your pours does it come back on you or the builder
Keith B it will come back and fall on the builders structural warranty which is 10 years in most places.
Problem is proving concrete was poured wrong. Concrete is going to crack, we can’t prevent that at all but we can tell it where to crack with saw cuts and expansion joints. As long as it’s not shifting, a crack poses no problems for a home and that is the reason we use rebar to hold everything together. And you must have a good waterproofing and drainage system away from the concrete as well. If all those key elements are in place then a cracked concrete wall or slab will be stable, and will not leak but if anything is left out of the equation then the homeowner will have problems starting in year 2
Isn't an 8 to 10 inch slump less water then a 5" slump ?
I was thinking measuring ground up instead of top of cone down , my mistake .
@@gn4720 No, higher slump is a wetter mix. 0 slump concrete doesn't flow at all. Highest slump I've ever seen was 10.5". It was grey water with 1.5" rocks in it...
In central California, Visalia mainly there are tons on these match stick homes built on old farmland.
Now it makes me think of all the chemicals these home owner's and their families are subjected to.
John Kugelfischer, mind blowing man. I know the cities water is tainted but completely over looked how flammable these properties could be. So much for a happy home.
Especially with what a home is going for these days.It is essential to know.Thanks,Jordan!!
What a crazy waste of resources to build this trash. There are so many beautiful old homes around me built over 100 years ago that will probably stand for 100 more. Nothing special, just well-built homes. And then there is this crap that only has to last just long enough to where the developers don't get sued. It's sad. Thanks for making this video, it's great to know what's out there!
100 year old homes don't have the energy seal that he is screeching about, vapor barriers or concrete foundations.
@@NexusCapital What I'm saying is that these homes will never last and see generations of families. They will just get bulldozed and more cheap trash will be built on the lot. If I can pull your siding off and reach my arm through the wall and into your home it's garbage.
@@NexusCapital They definitely had concrete foundations. They leak, but you could fix that if you ever replace the siding. Why should we be building homes in 2019 that leak more than a house from 1919? Plus the concrete from 1919 is legit and you don't have to worry about a builder pouring weak concrete to save money.
@@_PatrickO We build really solid houses here in western Wa State so I dont know what you are talking about. Ive flipped 12 homes in the last few years and remodeled all of them my self. By far the worst construction has been pre 1960 homes. They are all crooked, drafty and clearly did not have inspectors much less building codes. Honestly I have no idea what you are talking about. My experience with old houses has been so bad I won't even buy them anymore. 1980s+ are dreams to work on I love them.
@@KLondike5 that sounds nice but its just not true. You only see the old houses still standing that actually made it. There was tons of total crap built by guys that did not do it for a living but just had some know how. Think about how many of those great "skill amd character" homes have been torn down because they fell apart or sunk into the soil. I use to think all of that but then I started working on all those old houses and realized it was really hit or miss if it was a true craftsman or most likely bill and Ted with a 12pack. They literally insulated houses with newspapers, had no caulk and seal or blower door testing, no vapor barrriers under the homes R-value wasnt even heard of or engineered anything. The only thing on their side was literally tight grained old growth timber that we don't have anymore. Don't fall for the "they dont build em like they use to" meme. It Sounds nice and nostalgic but isn't true.
Looks like 100 houses I've inspected. Thanks for the video, and props for pushing quality over size. I couldn't agree more.
Quality over size got me married.
@@SinnerSince1962 lol
No one should "push" anything, to each his own, let people live in whatever they want to.
@@integr8er66 Even cardboard houses?
@@Minecraftizawsom Absolutly, why would you think for a min that it is ANY of your business what someone else wants to live in. I live in a 20ft camper 1/3 of the year by choice, and you think you should have some right to deny me that? Get a life and mined your own.
Jordan, I’m a retired architect and fully agree with your review of the tract construction. Moisture control, whether at walls or windows, is truly crappy. In which state is this being built?
Back in the 90's I worked for a readymix company and we were selling concrete to a builder in Newtown Pa (Pricey area). I was visiting the jobsite and looking at the houses. There was no sheathing. I remember thinking that you could probably break into them through the wall using a steak knife
Had a good laugh about the steak knife
Better hope the Cool-Aid man doesn't turn to a life of crime.
I've had the same kind of thought about low end houses around here that at times use Bilt-Rite, a fiberboard sheathing product. When you put vinyl siding on that all you'd need is a utility knife to go right through a wall between studs...
To make things worse, a drywall guy on the job told me all the other trades on the job give them a couple bucks to clean up all their trash and they throw it in the walls before they put up the last sheets of drywall. There was a big sign in front of the development that said starting at $249,900. At the time that was a lot of money. I think they were building about six houses per acre
I'm right next door in Yardley and I've watched newer developments go up like that. The easiest way to break into these houses is definitely just cutting through the siding.
um just looked up. by laws of building codes they must put sheeting. the roof load determines the thickness required on walls. report these homes to the city and national building code association. the builder is looking at a huge fine. if you dont report them then you are ok with it and keep allowing people to be screwed over.
He probably did and didn't want to mention that on the video for liability purposes 😏
The system is corrupt. It's almost guaranteed that local or state officials know exactly what's going on. How can they not? Still they sign off on the work done. Obviously they do, or else these houses wouldn't keep getting built.
This exact same garbage happens in 100% of new modern automobiles. That's why I boycott all new vehicles, and only support classic cars.
@@johnnocanuck while I agree that there's often corruption, there's also usually too few inspectors covering any given area. Both conditions, sometimes the latter leading (gradually or not so gradually) to the former, are contributing to problems like this.
Oh my! Compared against the quarter million dollars of real money the homeowner will need...what a pittance we're looking at in terms of proper sheathing materials.
Once it's covered up, retrofit is very expensive. Sad.
And what builder company is responsible for allowing this?
Your Mom!!!
Must be the Juan Hernandez from the build them like shit house building company limited.
Too many to list!
Style Craft home BUILDERS, I KNOW ALL THERE CRAFTMANSHIP AND CONTRACTERS AND BUIDING SUPPLYERS, STRAIT JUNK HOMES .
Probably Market Place homes
I'm glad to hear good things about the a/c and electrical. I'm sure that will help when the freaking house collapses because of a 60 mph like what happened to northwest Texas about 2 weeks ago. My house built in 1943 with a steel roof didn't have any damage.
Why would having strips of osb be any less strong than sheets of it? This definitely isn't a new practice. Builders have been using a structural siding for decades. I wouldn't want that kind of work, but it meets code.
The drywall and cabinets are now structural. Grk some picture frames that will help to. I would love to see some mud joints after a wind storm.
It's all in the new Caulking... It's amazing stuff!
😂 But such a bargain... I guess the buyer's next home will be mainly duct tape. If they can afford that after paying for a cardboard and plaster model of a house.
Several years ago I saw a custom home built like that in SE Wisconsin, just 12 miles North of the tornado belt. That home was a show home, had a full basketball court in the basement, some weird textured drywall finishes, and they were extremely proud of what they had built. I thought that it was a huge joke.
Holy moly...these are the type of houses that disintegrate in a tornado.
Well to be fair most house will given a reasonablely strong storm
Joshua Hodge ...True but this house will stripped to the bone long before the storm becomes reasonably strong. A good fart will blow the clapboards off the side.
@@blipco5must be some good chilli to produce winds of that magnitude, but I do see your point the better built homes can withstand more
Joshua Hodge ...Once the sub floors are nailed in, and pray they use plywood over OSB (which I doubt), there will be rigidity to the structure but building a house without siding should be against building codes. It must be noisy af when you're in the house. My shed is built better.
@@blipco5 I use 3/8 inch plywood for walls and 3/4 inch plywood for roofing. Sure, it costs more but OSB isn't waterproof. A leak when spotted has been leaking for years. It's only expensive when you have to rebuild a house because contractors cheat. Do it right the first time.
My house in Swansea Massachusetts was built in 1912 and is still standing strong. It’s been through some major hurricanes with little to no damage. Southern yellow pine construction 😊 I’m in the construction industry and know what I bought 20yrs ago. I could never build anything like what you are showing and sleep at night. Feel badly for the young families strapped in a huge mortgage for those cardboard boxes.
man i loved UT video. when u said $150 sq ft my jaw dropped. as u walked through i thought maybe $100 sq ft. we're looking at building in the next 5 years. I am educating myself now. thanks!
To me, another good sign that you didn't mention is the cleanliness of the job site. The places you visited looked like trash dumps. That translates to a slovenly approach to everything else and would turn me off.
I thought that as well. I did low voltage for a long time and most places I went to pull wire where very organized. High rises to housing developments. There where a few time the places where crappy but they where far apart.
Looks like a Chinese construction site. At least in China they have the excuse that every night, random people will be picking up the scrap wood for their charcoal business, taking the damaged bricks to make a sidewalk, selling the scrap steel & plastic to recyclers, etc. Mind you, I suppose this building site is remote enough that it doesn't really matter, as long as it's not dangerous to the crew.
@@jeffreyquinn3820 In America the poor pick new construction clean for copper and panels. These look nothing like any type of Asian construction. I kinda just think you wanted some reason to bash China.
@@richardwaldron222 Thieves mostly drug addicts are the ones ,not necessarily the Poor
I've been to hundreds of track home build sites in nor cal, they all looked like that. And the construction methods made me cringe, and I know very little about it. One thing that always bothered me was the use of the simpson style plate ties that require no nails(?), they just have little spikes on them. Those were used everywhere (on joins, sorry not sure what the technical name is), with no nails. Not sure how those hold together for 30 to 40 years. Btw, i delivered hvac materials, and every job sight was an absolute nightmare to get into, just piles of garbage everywhere (and no offense, but no one even spoke English). Flex duct was the only thing used, except for maybe some short runs of riser (for vent hoods or to go through narrow areas) or b-vent for gas exhaust.
My guess is that builder probably has some naked pictures of the building inspector 😉
What building inspector?
yeah. cutting corner scam is going on!
Matt Metcalf With animals !!
Now that's funny!
I think the building inspector got a big wad of dirty money!
Fancy, expensive mobile homes at this point🤦🏽♀️
That house will have black mold within a year. That is insanity that hardy board is the only thing between the outside and inside! Lol criminals could break into your home in between the studs just by smashing some hardy board! 😳
or the police when they come to confiscate your guns, they can just come in right through the walls, you're fucked.
@@williammacroberts2305 hahaha
Hardy board is so easy to break. That's insane. It blows my mind how shoddy homes are today.
No insanity is the electric and gas bill for that house each month if it isn't properly insulated then that means you are going to have a $500 or more bill!
How does paying a gas/electric bill of $1,000 sound to you!😱
Brain of Brian --> Can't believe county or city codes are allowing those cost cutting measures.
As an educated person on construction I've been trying to tell people how poorly most of the new homes I see are being built. They are charging 150-200 per SF and the houses just aren't well built.
My farmhouse was built in the 1890's and has dimensional lumber, 1" tongue and groove exterior and interior sheeting. Also, cedar exterior siding. Plaster and lathe interior walls. Still as solid as the day it was built.
Yes. I build with only dimensional lumber and plywood. I don't use one piece of osb anywhere in the houses I build. I'll never understand why builders would use osb in a damp climate where I build. You're just asking for problems down the road.
How's all that lead paint 😂 holding up?? 😂😂😂
@@jamie.777 that can easily be removed or painted over. The lead doesn't radiate into the air, (unless its flaking off) it has to be ingested to affect someone
@@christineplum5432 The road ends once the warranty ends, usually a week after.
Your floors squeak though, correct?
In my neck of the woods homes built like this have actually blown over during construction. Metal strapped framing and everything complete except for the cladding. 45 mph wind toppled them.
Lol in Florida we have better built trailers strapped to the ground that look safer to stay a storm in.
saw that happen here in kalispell mt. last summer.... stuff built like this iant gonna last in snow country!!
@@lukewarmwater6412 how heavy does snow weigh on a roof? I've always wondered.
@@richardwaldron222 thats hard to estimate. depends on how much water it has trapped in it. in the spring a foot or two of snow getting rained on can weigh alot. a good stiff breeze when this house is loaded and the roof will turn 90 degrees as it falls on top of the homeowners and crush everything beneath it.
In my neck of the woods (USA-MI) they'd freeze
Never thought it possible for a house to be built that way....
Thank You So Much! Someone’s Gotta Say Something! My Mom Is Not In Construction But Said It Was So Obvious She Didn’t Need To Be To See All The Shoddy Work Being Done. Nails Going Through Boards Not Connecting To Anything On The Other Side…And So Much More! We Appreciate Your Integrity And Your Voice For Truth! 👊
Your rigjt... that house should be illegal!!.I've built houses all my life. That build is...I'm speachless..
My 1954 manufactured home built with 2"x2"s and cardboard walls is built better than this carp!
that house should be illegal because it was built by illegals
@@katman77018 Don't be that person.
My parents house that is built in 1993 made by 2 bit contractors that cut corners in the interior finish is a lot better than that.
So this wrap has been used since the 1900’s
Great video. My question though, for someone that really has no building expertise, or is just the typical DIY-er, what are the main things to look for to find a quality-built house? Also, do you know any major builders that talk about (and follow through) quality work from their perspective?
As a builder and one passionate about building quality high performance homes, I agree with you 100%
This is just about spot on how homes are built in KC area. Even 500k homes.
Same here, but that's pretty universal for every major home builder, though. They all have a corporate cookie cutter process and use the same suppliers and subcontactors regardless of house. Go into a new D.R. Horton subdivision of $160k Express homes and go into a new D.R. Horton subdivision of $400k luxury homes, and the build quality is identical... They're using the same framers, same plumbers, same electricians, etc, all lowest bidders. Even some furnishings you'll find a lot of similarities, because they purchase in bulk...for instance interior bedroom doors and hardware may be identical, or appliances, vanities, etc. When you buy an expensive luxury home with a large corporate home builder, really you're just paying more for extra square footage, different architecture, and upgraded exterior material.
@Bo Hunter lol, you have way more crooked builders in kansas.
The sad thing is, that these houses could be built right for the same amount of money, but not when you have contractors who basically get half the money for bidding and organizing subcontract labor. I used to work in new home construction decades ago. When old school builders had their own crews, paid them well, and were actually involved in the job, the supervision and the quality control. But we had an influx of people with little or no experience, and nothing but a pager (just before cell phones) and a pickup truck, who suddenly were building contractors, expecting to make more money than all the crews put together. That is when we started seeing illegal laborers flooding the market, sub par material, and corners cut that no experienced builder would ever allow on his job.
I continued to run paint crews for a while after that, and saw the same thing happen in my field as well. Out of necessity, I ended up working for a guy who had worked as an apprentice framer for 6 months, before borrowing money from his dad to start a painting business. He knew absolutely nothing, and for the first year, I was constantly fighting with him about doing the job right. I had some success in getting him to trust my judgement, and ended up as his foreman, and the company took off, and we did good work, but he was very stubborn and never learned anything, I finally got tired of the same old fight and left the company after 6 years. After I left, he went back to the same mistakes, and was sued into oblivion. He went from apartment and condo production and repaints, to million dollar residential and commercial contracts, back to a 2 man crew and his pickup doing cheap resprays. I have seen this repeated over and over, and when one goes out of business, there is another one just like him to take his place. If you don't know the builder, well enough to know his work, you are better off walking away. I would estimate that this is about 80 percent of what is out there now. the good work is done by the other 20 percent, who out of conscience, still make less than the know nothings.
I agree completely. My rule of thumb is if the boss shows up in a pickup with a tool belt, take the job. If he/she shows up in an Escalade with a cell phone, run like hell.
@@SafeTeeB Very good advice. Unless the boss shows up in an unscratched $80,000 truck and a belt full of brand new tools, and his daddy cosigned all his loans. In which case, call a babysitter.
The real reason for foreign workers is there are some corners American workers won't cut, and some safety regulations American workers won't break. I have nothing but respect for people who leave their home behind to make a better life for their children, but none for the rich people who exploit them.
@@jeffreyquinn3820 so what is your thesis
I was a roofer, but quit because I couldn't work for soft handed "builders" anymore. The industry is run by greedy know nothing's who rip off workers and customers alike. Like you said, there are still a hand full of teal craftsmen who take pride in their work but they are being pushed out.
I've seen this done years ago before you were in the trade. This stuff falls apart in 10-15 years after the checks have been cashed. You are dead on with your assessment of this mess.
needs plywood with tyvek before the hardy board ... this is quite a cheat
Or even OSB
My house was built in 1850. The frame is post and beam, the sheathing is 1” planks. They sure don’t build them like that anymore. 👍
The siding will outlast the house
As a general rule, you don't have to wrap the entirety of a house in plywood or OSB. It's not a bad idea, and there are benefits to it, but it is not necessary for a proper moisture barrier or for structural strength.
That being said, the COMPLETE lack of wood sheeting is concerning.
teraxiel
Isn’t it supposed to be sheathed with plywood on each corner to maintain lateral stability? Those ceiling straps in the garage won’t address this. Scary if lateral stability isn’t addressed and that the homeowner won’t be aware of it. 🤦♂️
Lots of older homes by Craftsman (read: Sears) were built with the siding directly on the studs, and many without any tarpaper or rosin paper under the clap siding. I have seen some done with the studs on 24" centers and even roof rafters that are 2x4 or 2x6 on 24" centers. Not sure what holds 'em up but they are still standing 80 years later.
Old growth lumber with 15 growth rings per inch instead of new growth pine with 3-5 growth rings per inch...huge strength difference between wood used 80 yrs ago and todays...I've seen many flat laid double 2x4 headers..old Douglas fir is no joke.
@@colinglidden5702 ... hey, I believe it, but still shake my head based on what we normally do today.
Thanks for the re-upload. Keep the great info coming!!!!
This kind of building goes on in every state, our first house had Hardy board nailed to the studs with no rap.
You were better off building your log cabin sealed with mud lol
Thomas Collier at least it is hardie board and not cheap poly vinyl siding
Large volume builder pacing the market in the race to the bottom.
It really is so depressing
I bought my grandma a new manufactured home after her house burned down. It’s not a top of the line home but also it’s not a bottom of the barrel either. I looked at how the house was built the floor joist are 2x8 all of the wall studs are 2x4 and they used engineering trusses for the roof everything was covered with OSB sheathing and the floors are 3/4 inch plywood, overall the structure is very solid. The house wasn’t all that expensive under 100k for setup and everything I think it will last her a long time and it’s very energy efficient her light bill is under $150 in the summer in east Texas.
Those houses can be quite difficult to keep warm in the super rare occasion the temperatures drop to single digits for a few consecutive days in Austin, TX. The plumbing on the outside walls is at great risk of freezing.
That's pretty scary. Those exterior walls have no shear strength. Sheetrock is going to have a tough time keeping up with movement
@Leopold or when the police come to confiscate your guns
William MacRoberts aim for the face
Videos like this make me feel a little better about my leaky 70s split-level home that is consistently 7 degrees hotter upstairs. It's built like a tank!
In Sweden är windscreen-plasic om the outside and a moisture barrier on the inside. It's so you don't push moisture in to the wall when heating a home and stop wind from penetrating the between the boards. Having moisture barriers on both sides leads to mould problems in our climate.
The South in the United States has a hot and humid climate (with maybe three months out of the year being cold winter, but not nearly as cold as Sweden, northern U.S., or Canada), so the moisture barrier is on the outside and there is no barrier on the inside.
How does this pass energy star? There is no way that the HVAC can qualify, not with that much air leakage! At least they used a proper header above the garage doors. I often see 2x4s stacked as a header.
Why would anyone want to be sealed up air tight with all the glue and fumes from those new building materials?
Very few builders build to energy star standards. In Dallas Fort Worth it is only a handful of builders that are energy star certified on every home. Most do not build to any energy protocol.
Where are these homes
@@urbanplanner7200 New houses should be as air tight as possible. It's a myth that a house has to breathe. It's a complete waste of energy (which means tons of money).
@@TheGuruStud that if for the kind of Americans that think fresh air comes from a device you plug in a outlet.
I purchased a house in 2016 in Temple, TX and being a former electrician I discovered that the electricians ran 12 awg from the panel(s) and then at the first box switched everything to 14 awg and everything is on a 20 amp breaker and I let the city inspectors know what I discovered and they blew me off why you may ask? Because they NEVER had done a final electrical inspection or a occupancy permit for my house and they put 1” foam on the exterior of the house then put hardy plank siding over the foam board and this was a Omega home. These houses are put up cheap but charge you for a premium home
Crikey, those homes must be the one location in the US without hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes. What's to hold that damn house together or to the foundation? Flimsy strapping in the ceiling doesn't do squat. That worthless wrap is probably a blessing in disguise as that home will likely rot before it gets destroyed by a big storm
Dude, the windows. The windows add racking strength. Naturally 👨🔧
lol
Haha imagine trying to open those windows in a few years.
thank you for the information, it helps so much the little HUGE details.
The lack of shear strength sure wouldn't meet Earthquake codes out here in the West.
Even up north where there isn't quakes. A wicked wind storm and down it goes.
@@lostwanderer8651 Not to mention the weight of snow.
Jordan Snowhook i live in Washington and just watched my neighbor build like this. It looks like it will blow over in the wind
Are you a structural engineer? Have you reviewed the house plans? Do know they what else was installed to prevent racking movement?
@@chagildoi fabric
Uh... is there not even any nogging in the walls? Woven plastic sheathing with hardiboard only, no racking?
Are there not applicable engineering standards for a house that won't blow over in a stiff breeze or go up in flames like a roman candle? Someone had to sign off on the architectural plan...
A Friend and I have stayed in some apartments in the last few years. They have NO noise proofing between the 1st and 2nd floors. It sounds like elephants walking above You.
They need a good hvac system to maintain positive pressure. When the hvac system fails the house will implode.
"Shut the door you're letting all the structure out!"
TURN THE AC OFF THE HOUSE IS GONNA BLOW OVER!!!!😂😂
This has been going on for years and as a carpenter it pissed me off
What the best way for a buyer to protect themselves if they catch their builder doing this?
Don’t buy it.
We had a house built in a development in NC several years ago. Before we even thought about committing to buy in any development (and there were plenty being built in the area) we went through the developments on Sunday evenings, when no one from the builders / developers was around ans walked through the houses under construction, much the same way as in this video. You could easily tell which builders were doing it right and which were cutting corners. Building techniques, engineering of the homes, quality of materials, etc. We narrowed it down to two builders we were comfortable with and went on from there. We also drove by our house at random times during the construction and checked on what they were up to.
It did help that my Brother - in Law was a contractor and i had worked for him during summers my Jr & Sr year of college, so at least I had a decent idea of what I was looking at.
They need to have a third party supervise the build and right strict code requirements in the build contract. But if you already bought one of these turds, there are almost no consumer protection laws in housing industry, it's a scam artist's dream.
This is SCARY! It's a cardboard house!!
Ave Crux hahahaha cardboard would be better than what they are doing !!
I'm a custom home builder and I love that you're doing videos like this. I build on an island, so we have to engineer for windstorm requirements. I always tell people not to buy new homes inland where there are no windstorm requirements because I've seen them use t ply for sheathing and I'm absolutely shocked. I use 5/8" cdx for all sheathing and decking and of course the house is clipped and strapped like crazy. My framer once told me, everyone deserves a good house no matter the size or cost. I agree.
this is how "affordable houses are built in Minnesota, you could literally break in any wall with bare hands, why lock your doors?
Bert Jones These houses they are building now in Minnesota suck!
No rebar in any concrete
No gravel base
No tamping
The framing sucks
A manufactured home is better now.
SO what's to stop someone from breaking through that big glass window in the living room? A whole lot easier that breaking through a wall . . . and you don't have those pesky studs in the way.
My God! I wouldn't even build a dog house like that. Where are the building inspectors?
murraystewartj --> Probably paid off by the builders.
looking the other way, or just non-existent due to cutbacks.
That's true. My dad built a house in 93, I remember the delays because the inspectors couldn't get there. One okayed th septic on the phone. The lateral were running uphill, I knew that was wrong, pooled water from the start. His permit for a driveway was never inspected, but our county officials are lazy.
First Name --> Hahahar, that's funny ... but you haven't seen my dogs!
Once outside of city limits, inspections become rarer and rarer. You might get a local fire dept to do a basic electrical inspection, but that's about it. Seeing as those houses are in a field, there might not be much in the way of permitting and inspections.
Jordan, Thank you for the information. This is also a problem with Flips. Purchased a home, with a catalog of issues from the inspection. Seller supposedly fixed, but only covered enough to pass a re-inspect.
One month in, and I was already finding issues with the shoddy work. HVAC systems not functioning as they should or not technically installed properly. Walls not insulated or like this new build siding covered only (found this doing electrical where I could see light from outside around the light switch), unsealed outer walls allowing water intrusion between the floor and slab. Improperly installed windows, and roof.
These things are a nightmare for buyers new and old alike.
This is what you see in 90% of the homes in the Phoenix area. Except not that well built.
Everything built in Arizona post mid to late 80's has two strikes going against it. 1) Flimsy cheap construction like seen in this video. and 2) It's almost certainly going to be in an HOA.
all the sheeple ever say is that "regulation drives up prices", but regulation is what prevents these monstrosity from happening.
these builders would sell you a $250,000 cardboard box if they could.
I did construction and remodeling in the mid-west, then I and moved to Texas for 3 years and was absolutely disgusted by the build quality.
all these mass housing development companies are all the same Ryland homes, Lennar, parry homes, ect. absolutely abysmal workmanship. and in the building community especially these homes are a crime against humanity.
In Idaho these would be Corey Barton homes. These type of contractors are everywhere you go and it's a damn shame. I own a fence company and there is absolutely no regulation on it so you can imagine the tragedy that is some of the work I see.
Yup in the long run LACK of regulation costs more in the long run. Unfortunately everybody has short term thinking. So listen when a politician says I am getting rid of heinous red tape to let business be profitable. Listen to people in the know like this guy. Great 👍 commentary.
Supposed to be 3\4 plywood on corners dammmmmn
Great video. Nice to see an honest builder. Have a good day to all.
What the heck! I'm not a builder and even I know that work is shit
Sara H --> Hey! That builder had to pay huge bribes to the inspectors for turning their backs on these mold pits. This is America, that's how things work, Damn it.
They did that in the 80s with eris
some people call them Mc mansions. mass produced junk. glue and saw dust board's.
This is why I'd much rather have old house problems, than new house problems. Just no comparison in build quality. There can be major maintenance issues, at times, but then I see that nightmarish Chinese drywall scam that makes people sick and literally corrodes the wiring in the house. Issues like that are irreparable, and the npow sick home owners often have to write it off completely, after having sunk their life savings into it.
Mc mansions are... Big. And gaudy. These are just copy paste house
Rcmike1234 yes I know I just didn't feel like typing in all the details. I have seen many smaller house's like this. Thanks.
Why you hatin'?
Yeah, I’d compare it to most furniture that’s made now days. Use once and throw it away. Trash.
My 80 year old house have only 1x6 wooded siding, and the 2x4 framing are 24 inches on center. No vapor barrier, but it also had 1x6 on the inside before the drywall.
This is actually not a bad idea, if they use closed cell foam on the walls
We build garden sheds this way in the uk 🇬🇧
in the USA we build garden sheds with granite counter top . ( we call then house )
My garden shed is built better than that!
Does your garden shed have a tin roof to collect rain water?
in the uk 🇬🇧 they will have live in garden sheds after brexit....
N C plenty of room in your country for all of us , as you let anyone live there