HOW IS THIS EVEN LEGAL?!?!
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- čas přidán 7. 06. 2024
- This video is back up!!
Here's why:
1) I try to treat people as I would like to be treated, and I would not want someone airing my dirty laundry to the world. However, I do think I would want to know this information if I were buying a knew home and knew nothing about the building industry. In an attempt to satisfy both concerns, I have taken great care to make sure that the identity and location of the builder remained anonymous. This isn't a personal attack on any single person or company. I am simply giving my PERSONAL opinion on why I would not invest my money in a house like this.
2) I think that homeowners should know what is going on INSIDE the walls of the biggest investment of their lives. While I state in the video that the home is probably engineered and built to meet all local codes (I am not a structural engineer or building inspector), to me, the building details that a buyer can't see in a tour of the show home matter MORE than what you can see. I can easily upgrade lighting, flooring, and cabinetry as budget permits, but if I am upgrading a poorly built structure, am I making a wise financial decision for the future? Is it a good idea to invest all that material and capital into a building that will wind up in the landfill in 50 years?
Yes, the low end of the market is a tough place to compete. However, it is possible to build a more comfortable, durable, efficient house for very little additional cost. It would cost less than $2,500 to sheath this house in OSB and dramatically improve its structural rigidity, comfort and efficiency. If your a home buyer spending $250K, a 1% increase makes total sense. However, for a tract home builder building 1000 homes a year, that same $2,500 increase represents $2,500,000 in lost profit. But that's another story for another video.
Y'all stay safe out there.
-Jordan
-Good book for self-education on Building Science :amzn.to/2Ibjn81
-Another one for Hot Humid Climates - amzn.to/2D6Z5rN
/ jordansmithbuilds
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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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You are an ANGEL for bringing this to the public knowledge.!!!
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.
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.
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?
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.
Especially with what a home is going for these days.It is essential to know.Thanks,Jordan!!
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.
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.
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!
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?
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.
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.
Thanks for the re-upload. Keep the great info coming!!!!
thank you for the information, it helps so much the little HUGE details.
Thanks for holding your phone in landscape mode it makes a huge difference.
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.
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! 👊
As a builder and one passionate about building quality high performance homes, I agree with you 100%
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.
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).
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
I would never had said you are going after the builder, we got the point the materials are cheap. Thumbs up!!
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
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 🤔
Great video. Nice to see an honest builder. Have a good day to all.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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 .
Great video and timely message. Keep them coming!!
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.
You're doing God's work my friend. Thank you. I've never bought a home and this is so valuable to me.
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 building is the stuff of nightmares. My heart breaks for the soon to be home owner of this mess.
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.
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.
Thank you for pointing this out to the public I am a professional painter here in Alabama and I believe in equality and I'm glad to see that somebody else does too
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.
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
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
Good content. Thank you for pointing these out. I may be past home buying in life, but I always appreciate the knowledge of what a well manufactured product should be. The advice, "find a good home builder" leads me to ask how you can reliably find such a builder for new or remodels?
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
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
These are the type of videos that help me. We are buying new construction and I specifically go every few weeks to check the status. I specifically checked and it looks like they have OSB around the entire house. I'm not sure if California has better code but I would be furious if my exterior was a tarp and some plastic siding.
This is a fantastic video, we need more info like this. Around my area they are building these types of houses in droves, somehow they are 500-600k + but the cheapest build quality with "fancy" finishes like you mentioned. Unbelievable, I think buying a war-time home in my area is better than buying new based on build quality and how fast/cheap they are building them around here. Heck we had a slight wind storm and a few neighborhoods of in the process builds collapsed, the wind storm was normal for this time of year. New subscriber after this vid -- thanks Jordan!
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?
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.
@@NexusCapital I'm not knowledgeable at all but stuff build after WWII definitely went up fast and probably of much cheaper materials that what you see pre Great Depression. The stuff before the economy and war issues at least had great character, skill & craftmanship even if it was a starter home.
Thank you for what you are teaching people.
Jordan, you are describing my house. I am rebuilding the entire house from the inside out. Thanks!!!
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.
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.
Thanks for the video. It was very informative.
I was so tempted to buy a new home like that, but decided to go with a ranch style house built in 1959. It needs a little updating which we are doing slowly but it’s very solid. I just wish it had higher ceilings
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.
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.
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 .
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!
Dude, the windows. The windows add racking strength. Naturally 👨🔧
lol
Haha imagine trying to open those windows in a few years.
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.
Fancy, expensive mobile homes at this point🤦🏽♀️
I see that in Rio Grande Valley area every day. When my ceiling light fell off, I was trying to screw it back into the stud, only to find the stud is not anchored to anything. 🤣🤣🤣
Lesson learned.
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.
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
Having needed to jack up a porch (that had been enclosed in stages over appx 30 years before we bought the house) to rebuild the foundation, when the framing was not sheathed, but sided with the old "paperboard" siding... I can tell you that the siding can give a tremendous amount of rigidity to the frame.
I had to strip the siding to be able to straighten the porch.
.
I upgraded the "room" considerably in the process of the renovation.
Structural siding! Amazing. Hope the wind doesn't blow too hard. BTW, this looks very similar to my family's houses in North Carolina.
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!
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...
WOW! I was disappointed when I found out the 2 year old home we bought was built with Thermoply cardboard sheathing. My apartment in college had just tar paper when they replaced the siding and I’d rather have that than just house wrap. Why are we moving back in time instead of forward? Please tell me these houses aren’t in a wind/tornado prone area! Great video!
Preach it. Just because it’s hidden behind the walls doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter. That’s awful. I would like to see a video of best reasonable build practice for a spec build. I would think osb,Tyvek, and your ducts in a conditioned space at a min. Love what your doing.👍
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
This video (and the quality is not that bad, I'm impressed) should be mandatory first-home buyer training.
You don’t get to see inside the walls, the only reason this video exists is because he found multiple homes in the middle of being built, once finished no one is ripping off the exterior to see what’s under it, but they should.
@@epiccollision No one but ME of course! lol! When I bought my first ever home(used crap house but at least concrete right?),that is what I did! As soon as I had the deed in hand I went inside with a hammer and wacked a few holes in the drywall to see if the house was really concrete or if it was a old wood house with a thin layer of concrete on the outside.. Well the house was half and half! The back was solid concrete block with drywall on 1x2 slats(okay good, I can work with that), but oh wow, the front half was an old wood and asbestos shingle house covered with 4" concrete block as a cover up! Needless to say my first home was condemned by the city and I had to sell off the lot at a loss.. Ahh humble beginneings
There's a lot of speculation going on in this video and he hasn't looked at the plans or talked with the architect, engineer, or superintendent. His concerns may be valid, or they may not be, no one here has the information to determine that.
I agree that buyers should be well informed, but this video is far from informative or objective. It's just trying to scare people.
Great info Jordan! Thank you
Thanks for posting!
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.
Never thought it possible for a house to be built that way....
True facts. This is always frustrating to me that some home inspection will pass this and an unknowing person owns junk as a result.
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
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
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.
At the close of your video I was looking at the green house in the background and It looked like there was sheeting was in place on the garage. Is that the same builder? Thanks for the video, and for informing us about the shoddy work some home builders do.
I can’t believe that is a code compliant build! It’s shameful!!!! I spent 4 years fighting with our last spec home’s builder (lawyers involved), it was the worst, thank goodness I had some construction knowledge or they would have just shrugged everything off as normal or not a big deal. I feel so bad for the future owners of those homes, there is no protection or recourse for home buyers! Thanks for sharing hopefully it helps someone in the future avoid a huge problem!
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
This video seems really informed and accurate, so I would like to ask your opinion on older homes that don't conform to any code at all. I live in a neighborhood of turn of the century bungalows. The ones that have been maintained and renovated look great and sell for $250/sf and even more sometimes. I'm sure none of them were wrapped at all, and they were built without joist hangers, sometimes with main beams are undersized, walls often have no insulation, there's no window flashing etc etc etc... home inspectors will point out things that don't meet current code but often there are no defects or issues to flag. Do you think no one should ever buy a classic old home?
Older homes are not required to upgrade to code. Even insurance on fire/damage will not update you to code unless absolutely necessary if not doing more than 50 percent of structure
I’ve never seen any window flashing ever btw new or old other than tape.
I had to strip my house down to the studs. And I have to find several support missing off on the beam. And most supports either shrunk or cut short and the beam is supported only by the nails. Even the building inspector won’t find them, since these are behind the drywall.
I saw a house in Michigan that passed inspection. Taped rigid XPS was the WRB, cladded with vinyl. A little shear strength in the corner and middle of the walls. 2x4 construction. I think it just squeaked past air leakage minimums, and you could break into it in about 30 seconds with a razor blade knife.
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
the funny thing is when you ask for ref, they will give some names. i called them and they said they were lousy! other subs word of mouth i guess and moving out of Cal and Cal invaded states. the gold rush is on!......until it's not.
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
WOW, i love love love your videos. Had to subscribe, really didn't have much choice haha
I’m glad I found this video. I was selling mine Bloomfield and was looking at buying a trophy. Not anymore. I am just a regular layperson but after touring the model home it seems that the materials were kind of cheap