Frame Site-built Homes

Judy longs for the homes she knew as a child, growing up in Orange County, California. Many of the older homes (circa 1920's) were build with minimum 2x6 up to 4x8 Redwood boards which naturally repell termites. They were built with crawl spaces which allowed the homes to give and not break in earthquakes.

The 1960's brought the cheap and lazy construction of flat-roofed, boxes made of 2x4's, on cement slabs with huge single-paned windows. At least they had rebar, but they also had the plumbing pipes in the concrete foundation which is now creating problems. To replumb one of those houses, the new plumbing has to be brought up the walls and across the ceiling.

Today's chewing gum and cardboard construction is little better than the doll houses we made for our Barbies out of packing boxes. Counting on the typical American moving once every five years and with a warranty of only a year or so, the builder has little incentive to build a quality home to last. Ah well, no worries about replumbing in 40 years, chances are it will be a tear-down.

Don't count on the builders to self-police or the overloaded building inspectors to catch problems during the construction stage, regardless if you're buying a $50,000 condo or a $15m home. Hire your own Certified Home Inspector. You'd be shocked at the stories of what they find.

A valuable resource for how to check licenses, complaints against contractors and much more is the Arizona Registrar of Contractors.

Another place to check is the Arizona Department of Real Estate. They have an updated list of homebuilders in financial trouble.

This page isn't meant to scare you, but the old adage "forewarned is forearmed" rings true.

Disclaimer: Links to other service providers are a sample of how to start a search, not an explicit endorsement of the quality of their work.