To me, it has more to do with how things have evolved. Plus, the price of building materials and labor rates. Compare any 100+ year old building to something that has been built in the last 30-40 years. The first things you notice is that ornate brickwork, cornicing, woodwork, & terrazzo floors have all been replaced with cheaper products. Plaster has changed to drywall. Wood windows have been replaced by PVC. It goes on and on.
I worked for an electrical supply house when “smurf tube” really hit the market. Every electrician that came in claimed that they would not be caught dead installing it. Only hacks use it. I’m sure it was the same thing was said when non-metallic took over knob & tube.
A lot of plumbers now don’t like Pro-Press as any real plumber sweats their connections. The old-school plumbers that installed galvanized more than likely said the same thing when things evolved to sweating copper. Same thing with the evolution of PVC, CSST, & PEX. One thing that has not changed is plumbers have been destroying floor joists since the days when plumbing was brought into the home.
I spent 5 years teaching HVAC sheet metal. It was hard for some students to understand why they needed to learn how to layout and make fittings when everything is being produced on plasma cutters where they work. For the most part they were right. However, they better understood it when they ventured out to start their own businesses and figured out that it would be a few years before they could afford equip their own shop with one.
The practices have changed. One thing that hasn’t is that there will always be those that take pride in their work and those that are only there to collect a paycheck.
I obviously hit a soft spot with you as you are taking it pretty personal.
Being around jobsites made me realize that I was more interested in HVAC than I was electrical. Worked for others in the HVAC trade for 11 years and then in general contracting for 3 before deciding to move on to the inspection side.
No one is entering the trades, and they took most Vocational training out of schools. Most of these are jobs “Americans” do not want. Therefore, we have a disruption in the lineage of knowledge since much of this training is hands-on and performed by workers whose first language is not English.
Yeah, tradesmen aren’t really tradesmen these days. I think of them more as installers. They are trained to install systems and often don’t understand the systems at all. It’s so easy these days they even color-code wiring and piping.
I remember being in a kitchen of a new build with an “electrician” a few years back and striking up a conversation with him about house wiring and how they lay out circuits to different areas and things like GFI protection. His eyes just glazed over and he openly admitted he really had no idea how it all worked but just knew where to put stuff.
You ever hear “we have always done it like this”? An apprentice taught hands on by uneducated journeymen will continue another generation of “we always did it that way”.
A combination of classroom and hands on is the way.
Well, that should never really happen. That is, if they are actually “teaching” before they retire.
I don’t see a lot of issues in my area with the new construction inspections I have done (although some of my marketing may imply the opposite).
I did my first new Dr. Horton home a few weeks ago. Dr. Horton seems to have a really bad reputation here on the forum and on other inspector forums. I only had 16 items for the report, and at least 5 of them were info items (water to spigots off, gas to stove off, etc.).
Here, it is a big issue. Most of the construction crews are migrants. I’m not sure how many skills they brought with them. One day they are crossing the Darien gap and the next day they are installing shingles on a DR Horton home.
Over time they will learn, but in the interim there are many problems. I don’t think many American craftsman passed their knowledge down to the new migrant work force. I could be wrong but what I see in the field tells me I’m correct.
For the record, I’ve also seen some excellent work in tile and masonry.
I saw a white guy roofing on a home the other day. I figure he was either a foreman or a drug addict who does day labor since he’s not employable.
I speak a decent amount of Spanish and I often hear one of the old guys castigating one of the younger guys for laying something down wrong or simply not moving fast enough. Most of the conversation is about their chicas though.
Several companies around here use the same crews constantly and they are here on green cards. They actually tell you that(our crews are stable, legal and have been working with us for years). I run into them all over the place to the point they wave and ask how’s the family if I’m in speaking distance.
My father built homes for over 30 years beginning around 1980. Many of us remember stain grade built in bookshelves, fireplace surrounds and 12 inch crown. Pipes were all copper. Floors were hardwood or tile. Cabinets could be built onsite. I’m not sure if that house could be built today. They can’t even put returns on window stools or aprons.
Many of these tradesmen were Vietnam vets. A tough and talented group. I have watched those skills leave our workforce.
For the record, I know there are many legal migrant workers. However, millions have come without documentation and it appears most are working. I guess legal documentation to work varies by definition in some areas.
