[sheriwx]

We are looking at houses to buy in Henderson, and want to know what years of construction to avoid. We currently rent a townhouse that was built in 2003, and it was shoddily made. Our friends have mentioned that corners were cut because that time period was a huge building time and builders were doing everything on the cheap.

Can anyone tell me what years were the big building boom when lots of shoddy work was done, so we can avoid looking at houses built during that time frame? Thanks!

[airics]

i don't think you can rule out any years... i would be more wary of the phase of the development.. the later the phase, the faster they were built. and also the manufacturer... William Lyons homes are great.. KB - garbage

[aacole]

I heard about late 2005 early 2006 homes being problems because of Hurricane katrina damage. There was a shortage of quality building supplies so builders used what they could to get the job done. I'm not sure if this was just rumor or what. I remember hearing it on one of the flip that house episodes. I can't remember if it was LV or not, though.

[tijlover]

I live in the central city in a townhouse complex built 1969-71. Myself, I have more faith in pre-80's construction, for whatever reason.

When I looked at townhouses to buy back in 1996, that was one of my curiosities when looking, the dates of construction. There are any number of townhouses out here in the East Central built in the late 60's/early 70's that I have complete faith in. I seemed to notice a slight deterioration in quality in the townhouses I viewed built in the 80's or 90's.

For instance, the stucco is so thick on the walls of my townhouse, I need a power drill to put a screw into it. It's almost like a cinder-block wall.

I once visisted a friend living in a house built in the mid-90's here, and she wanted me to help her hang an outdoor metal sculpture on a wall of her house near the pool.
Holly Molly! All it took was a very thin nail to puncture that stucco with a hammer! If I only had it that easy at my townhouse!

And back in that time frame, most people had big cars, and the garages were built large enough, so today I could park 3 small cars in my garage. The townhouses I viewed, even built in the 80's, had smaller garages.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the high-quality of the construction of my old townhouse. I wouldn't trade it for a newer one in the newer parts of town, ever!