To think that poor building works may not a big problem?

[GoSteadyReady]

I have looked at houses being renovated in my area and some are being done to a high standard and others you can see from the block and brick work that they are not really that good. However, what all is said and done, they will be plastered and decorated and no one will be the wiser about what lies underneath. Buyers will still pay the same or similar for the well-built and the poorly built one. Estate agents won't know which house is better built.

So in the end, it is probably not worth paying more for nicely done work that no one sees?

Those that are not that good probably don’t meet building regulations and are therefore unsafe.

Hmm....just because you can't see a danger doesn't mean there isn't one!

There's a school near us which was built 9yrs ago yes 9. it's now deemed so unsafe that pupils can no longer be taught there ( i dont know the issues but someone hasn't done the proper job) . They are now being bussed to an ex college building 16miles away!

"Prudhoe Community High School was built in 2016 at a cost of £14.6m under the previous Conservative government's priority school building programme (PSBP).!"

No way would I pay anything, never mind less for a building you KNOW hasnt been built to standards/regulations! If block/brick work is bad , what about gas/plumbing/electrics?

Building Control is now largely privately run and I don't know how thorough their inspections are because some questionable things seem to get passed and then covered up with plaster board, plaster and then paint.

One down the road, the pointing of the blocks are so poor. Looks like a mess but I am sure all will look passable once it is rendered.

How will you know you are paying for shoddy workmanship when you can't even see what's underneath it all.

IME block work inside can look a bit rough.

Brickwork outside rarely does, because that gives the impression of the place and is visible.

Out of sight out of mind is a real thing - stuff is built to a price.

There is a difference between something looking rough though and it being poor quality and not doing its job correctly.

Just because something out of sight isn't cosmetically appealing doesn't mean it can't adequately do the job it was intended to.

@GasPanic that's true but from what I understand, poorly pointed blocks can lead to damp overtime. However, you wouldn't see the effects until many years later.

I guess it depends what you mean by poorly pointed.

If you mean lumps of excess mortar that have not been cleaned off or well finished lines that is one issue. If you mean big gaps in the pointing that is another.

TBH I would be surprised to see that. Most of the difficulty as I understand it in building a wall is getting it uniform/perpendicular and straight with the blocks correctly positioned relative to each other. Gaps in the pointing are something that can be fixed with relative ease after the build just by pushing some mortar in. Straightening blockwork after it is put in place is a different issue that can only really be fixed by demolishing the wall.

Maybe you saw the wall before the final pointing and correction had been done on it. I haven't looked at wall build recently and how the ties are done but is it possible that gaps were left for a reason ?

I am not an expert.

I work in Building Standards in Scotland. We aren’t concerned with workmanship UNLESS if affects the ability of the work to comply with the regs… so joints that are a bit mucky, not an issue- mucky joints where mortar has fallen down the back and the wall ties are covered in excess mortar create thermal bridges and issues with damp, this would be an issue. I’ve made builders restart brick work outer leafs where the breather membrane on the timber kit was installed the wrong way… but I’m not sure all my colleagues are so diligent.