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Date published: 7/4/2008
Cheapie home builders--where is the pride?
The June 24 editorial "Builders who pollute" rightly warns about the environmental problems caused by careless home builders. Without discounting the pollution concerns of local builders, how about an in-depth story about the industry's hiring practices, the quality of new homes, the astronomical costs of those houses, and the greed that's undercutting existing home prices and making the market almost untenable? Illegal immigration and the attendant social costs fall largely at the feet of home builders who hire immigrants for much less than they would pay an American worker for comparable work. The same old tired excuses offered about keeping costs down fall on deaf ears when you price a new home. These builders are keeping the costs down by hiring illegals, but that cost is never shared by the prospective home buyer. Aside from my concerns about the industry's hiring practices, does anyone truly believe that the quality of new home construction compares to that of 50 years ago? Most of these mass-produced, vinyl boxes that masquerade as luxury homes are devoid of any originality and craftsmanship. You can almost see the Stepford Wives chatting on the front lawns before they return to the sterility of these poorly constructed monstrosities. My advice to home builders who happen to read this letter is to stop building these poorly constructed, overpriced, boxlike, plastic houses, and concentrate on homes that are unique, well-constructed, and affordable. Go back to the Arts and Crafts style, and please, please, please, toss all of your vinyl siding in the nearest trash bin. Edward Corcoran King George
I moved to a place that has many rules about
bushes and colors. The HOA did not look at what
the builders were doing. My ac and main waterline
are undersized. The corners inside the house are
horribly out square. One, everybody wants cheap.
Two, craftsman can't compete with 6.00 hr
"Carpenters" I work in IT now but am a carpenter
as well. To buyers and builders, you get what you
pay for.
The average house in 1958 was poorly built and could not meet today's building codes. And what is with your prejudice for Arts and Craft style houses. I owned one in my early life. It was small, and frankly not very functional. If I wanted another I would buy one. You want one? You buy one. And what does illegal immigration have to do with homes? And what business is it of yours as to the kind of houses other people buy? It is none of your business what other people buy.
Home Place. We were one of, if not the first one built by them in this area and they did not cut corners or cheap out. We were out there everyday checking out the work. If something didn't look right, we called the Sup up. We ended up coming in $2K under budget and 2 major problems we had, the contracter who caused it had to pay to fix it themself. The Sup refused to pass it on to us.
According to the VA manufactureres Association 50% of the skiled labor jobs go unfilled in VA each year. Perhaps if we had adequate Career and Technical Education Facilities this would help. If we enocouraged non-college seakers to get trained for real jobs other than min. wage burger flipping this might help.
But you are not describing a new trend. even before the illegals showed up on the scene, even custom builders cut corners and attempted to cheat their client. i contracted for a custom home in KG 15 years ago and had to check everything he and his crew did. Not only did he try to cut corners, but he inflated his costs and on the day of the closing presented me with an overage bill for $20,000. So I either pay up or no closing. Back then $20,000 was 1/3rd the cost of the average house. The guy was a thie
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