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Personal experience is a great teacher. Back in the 1970s, I was a young engineer / family man with a desire for a simple, frugal, energy efficient domicile (Those were the days of the "Energy Crisis"). I approached several banks with a modest "four square" house plan built with USDA approved technology - dry stacked surface bonded concrete block, spec'd with R30 walls, R60 ceiling, terne coated stainless steel roofing, and they disapproved of it because they said it was (a) not like the market, (b) a white elephant, (c) no one else would buy it.
It did not matter that I wanted the house to pass on to my g'g'g'grandkids.
"They" control what can be built and lived in.
I suspect that even if I had the cash to pay for it, the local zoning / building gnomes would have found fault with its “excessive” features, resilience, and disaster resistance. (Surface bonded block walls have six times the racking strength of regular mortared walls)
If you want to overengineer a house, that's fine if it's your money, but don't expect Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and their taxpayer backers to pay for it. It sounds like it would pass zoning inspection almost anywhere except a big city or affluent suburb. In most rural areas, you can build just about anything.
Years back a lady I was dating had 2 cousins come over from London England for a first time visit to the USA. Things are different over there for sure. They liked their beer at room temperature although Mike and John went back loving ICE COLD beer. Since I was in the building game I took them to a few houses and they wondered over the houses we built. In England, they claimed that when you buy a house, you get the foundation, the walls, and the roof. That about sums it up. YOU bring your own toilet, flooring, towel bars, electrical switches and receptacles, light fixtures, sinks, vanities, all appliances, plumbing fixtures, etc. They just couldn't get over the fact that we installed as a finished product all of the "extras". Don't know if it's still like this but about 10 years ago it was like that in Germany. I was involved with the methodology of a huge subdivision there and there was no specs for any of the above as they were not furnished. And this was high end housing. So I assume if you are starting out, you plan accordingly as to what you think you'll have for a house and buy those goods to take to the new house. For the builder, it's a piece of cake not to mention build time/schedule/interim. You can spend more assets on solid doors, and such. I thought it was odd from then on- you take your toilet with you when you move. The thought of using someone elses toilet was absolutely disgusting to them.
I had a house designed for me in Baja by Arquimex and, in Mexican style, every inch of that house was to be concrete, even the roof, with metal-framed windows, completely fireproof! Let the raging brush fires come!
Why don't we build houses like that in this country? The powerful, lobbying lumber companies would have it no other way, as they laugh all the way to the bank when one of their fire trap houses, apartment buildings or motels burns to the ground!
The lumber companies have even brainwashed American into believing it costs more to build with concrete, Not So! That's a lie, so they can keep on selling their lumber stashes from British Colombia and elsewhere. CEMEX, of Mexico, would happily export all the concrete we need if only we asked!
Why pervasive concrete in Mexico? Wood is candy to the termites!
I shudder to see all these mid-rise 5-6-7 story wooden tenement buildings being build across the country, and they have the gall to call them luxury apartment buildings! Luxury = concrete construction! One of these firetraps in L.A. or elsewhere is going to go up in flames, one of these days, and any deaths, hopefully, will fall on those even permitting these buildings to be built in the first place! I wouldn't live in one of these fire traps if the rent was free!
In A.D. 63 when Rome went up in flames, the blame rested on unscrupulous housing developers building with wood. After the fire, no wooden structures would then be allowed to be built!
That's what we're waiting for in this country, when, perhaps, all those mid-rise wooden apartment buildings, say, in Mission Bay San Francisco go up in flames one day!
Today is the 24th. Anniversary of Hurricane Andrew in Miami which was a CAT 5 and the county was considered to have one of the strongest building codes in the nation before the storm hit and it leveled tens of thousands of homes.
Miami-Dade county revised it's building codes after Andrew to ban all WOOD framing construction along with Mobile Homes in the county.
It has to be CBS (concrete, block & stucco or equivalent) construction now with Hurricane impact resistant windows. After this code was passed the Legislators from Miami-Dade county tried to revamp Florida's building code to match Miami-Dade's code across the state.
The building industry lobbied the state Government about changing the code saying it would destroy the housing market due to it's cost !
Only a few counties adopted Miami-Dade's strict building codes in Florida and the housing market is still strong. Just look at how many Europeans & South Americans are buying homes there.
They know quality.
To some extent, I noticed the same as the OP, when I travelled to Europe (specifically the Mediterranean areas of Italy, France, etc) the houses were mostly constructed of concrete or brick with tile or marble flooring. Windows and doors were generally heavy and the construction seemed largely to do with natural means of climate-control (high ceilings, bare marble/tile floors) in lieu of air conditioning.
India was much the same, with most of the houses constructed out of concrete, making the addition of
new levels fairly straightforward. Again, ceilings were high with metal vents cut between rooms to allow for the passage of airflow (and house lizards!)
The homes in the UK seemed most similar to our standard suburban cookie-cutter construction, although brick seems to be the material of choice - possibly due to the potential for wood siding rot given the climate? While there, I rented a renovated bungalow-style home (1920's construction) and dealt with a fare share of shoddy contractors installing crappy 'upgraded' fixtures, so I think they deal with much of the same nonsense we do in the US - unlicensed contractors tend to be pretty common.
Bingo. When [almost] everyone wants the absolute lowest price possible, stuff has to be built as cheaply as possible. Cheap price, cheap quality.
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they have the gall to call them luxury apartment buildings! Luxury = concrete construction! One of these firetraps in L.A. or elsewhere is going to go up in flames, one of these days, and any deaths, hopefully, will fall on those even permitting these buildings to be built in the first place! I wouldn't live in one of these fire traps if the rent was free!
