Stocorp.com
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If these construction details are so critical, why are they not being done?
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This is a free market system where the lowest price often means the most sales. Builders have to be efficient and cut costs where they can to offer you the most home for your money. Keep in mind who, or what, a builder is. They are the general contractor that organizes all the subcontractors to contribute using their specialties to build the design the builder has chosen. Most builders rely on their subcontractors to build to the appropriate code. They do not believe they should have to control all the trades that are required to build your home. In many states, there are no requirements to be a builder! Being a “Master Builder” often only requires a small fee.
In commercial construction, the architect is charged with not only designing an appropriate building that works as a system, but is expected to make sure it is actually built that way. In most residential building processes, there is no one playing that role because architects are not directly involved except to design the original floor plan.
As competition in the new homes market intensifies, builders have to bring you more for less cost to win against their competition-the other home builder. This competition has made for dramatically more complicated homes than ever. And, at the same time, greater focus on reducing costs. As the vast majority of home buyers trust the builder and do not know what they should be looking for, and since the builder is rarely on-site daily with his/her subs, flashings and careful, correct caulking are easy to let fall by the wayside. Corners are cut and construction details are just that-details. They are easy to overlook.
In many cases, a very honorable and trustworthy builder is only as good as the sub-contractors he hires.
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