So, (nearly) every house in the Dallas area has foundation problems at some point, requiring expensive repairs. Typically, piers are installed under the concrete slab foundation. So, as an engineer (computer, but still) I asked a friend: Why don't they just install piers before they lay the foundation? Wouldn't that be cheaper? Sure enough, it is. But that cost would be born by builders upfront, and they don't want to pay it. And, I guess, people don't insist on it.
I think the insulation is the same situation. If you have a house built for yourself, you can have whatever you want put in. But a builder is just going to lay down the cheapest thing he can manage that looks good.
True. Houses everywhere are built cheaply, now, though. The foundation thing is a little specific, but you have issue like not enough flood mitigation in other places. I saw new houses in Florida that don't look like they'd survive another hurricane.
So, (nearly) every house in the Dallas area has foundation problems at some point, requiring expensive repairs. Typically, piers are installed under the concrete slab foundation. So, as an engineer (computer, but still) I asked a friend: Why don't they just install piers before they lay the foundation? Wouldn't that be cheaper? Sure enough, it is. But that cost would be born by builders upfront, and they don't want to pay it. And, I guess, people don't insist on it.
I think the insulation is the same situation. If you have a house built for yourself, you can have whatever you want put in. But a builder is just going to lay down the cheapest thing he can manage that looks good.
True. Houses everywhere are built cheaply, now, though. The foundation thing is a little specific, but you have issue like not enough flood mitigation in other places. I saw new houses in Florida that don't look like they'd survive another hurricane.