Just settled on a property. Having seen dozens of properties over the last 3 months, here’s my findings.

Construction quality of New builds is hugely variable

• Time and time again, have seen brand new builds that are so poorly constructed and finished. While many of the niggles are purely cosmetic, some things are structural like poorly finished foundations, concrete not poured correctly to the edge and resullting in visible cracks inside of the house (tiling).

• Water damage to timber framing in builds still under construction and then covered up unbeknowance to the prospective purchaster.

• I’m still surprised that despite all the hoo har about leaky buildings, council inspectors still somehow let shoddy construction through.

We could be constructing our houses to be a lot more serviceable.

• It’s not easy to spot plumbing leaks with everything covered up behind white plaster board.. It’s only once a leak has been occuring for sometime that it may show and at that point, the owner will be up for quite a hefty bill for just trying to fix it. Will likely involve damage to timber framing as these days, the treatment is only typically up to H1.2.

• Bottom plates ought to be H3.2 throughout the entire house.

• I’m surprised that Laundry in garages aren’t sealed from possible flooding events. Time and time again, have visited a house, and seen visible signs the laundry area has flooded. Why we don’t seal this up (to protect timber framing), I wouldn’t know. Even the 1 year old house I’ve just purchased had this issue. Thankfully, the vendors agreed to fix it and seal it.

• Often when people re-do their bathrooms, rip out the lining they find they have structural damage due to slow and prolonged leaks that were occuring unbeknownce to them. Showers are a particular danger point. I feel we could vastly improve on our construction methods around this and I don’t know why we haven’t.

The most recent purchase may be the last rental I purchase in New Zealand for a while (in spite of my bank emphatically reaching out urging me to borrow again for yet another rental). And while Property as an asset class has so far been one of my best performing investments over the longer term, it all feels contrived / unreal and based off shaky fundamentals.

And why are these things so blooming expensive anyway? Why have we commoditized these things to the point we have? Houses are supposed to be people to live in first and foremost, not instruments of rampant financial speculation. Given the obvious social harm this has caused. Why haven’t any politicians stepped up urging to correct this ludicrous state of affairs?