These posts seem to contain a lot of errors from the first down. Any
house is a constantly ongoing refurbishment. Look how long a roof
would last if it was diligently inspected and repaired. I don't think
there have been many houses built without a wooden roof have there?

As for the occupancy exceeding 20 people in a Barratt Home.... Can you
get 20 people in a Barratt Home?

I don't think there is a country with more rigorous building codes
than Britain. The quality, as ever, depends on the architect, the
buider and the customer. If the customer cuts corners on quality
control, saving the cost of a good survey for instance, or overlooking
faults, just to get into the property.....

Unscrupulous builders may well keep the buyer hanging on knowing their
bridging loan and/or temporary residential circumstances will mellow
them into accepting what ever the builder is doing.

Then they move in and expect the cowboy to put it all right in 6
months. He kept them waiting a lot longer than that before they got
the key.

In feudal times if you got the roof on and the doors closed with smoke
coming out of the chimney by nigh time, you could live anywhere in the
land. It was a mark of either the total absence of building codes or
the organisation of a village with all the necessary skills and
planning clearance for them to want you living there.

Basically if the house is still there in 70 years despite the absences
of diy forums, B&Q warehouses and TV make-overs; somebody must have
done something right.

Today building relies on the fact that you have to give total
strangers vast amounts of money for quite some considerable time (with
very little say about what he does with it) and almost no chance of
getting it back and walking away.

Which leaves me wondering what builder in what part of the country is
offering 30 year guarrantees.