I dont know why they have to lie about it. At $5/8ft board you’d think I paid for the full 1.5. Edit: I mixed up nominal with actual.

  • Magnetar@feddit.de
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    7 months ago

    As if american measurements have ever made sense. Look up how they measure screws or wires and despair.

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Or shotgun shell sizes and loads.

      “It all started in 1840 when the dram was a common unit of measurement…”

    • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      It’s a wonder they manage to build anything. They have pocket calculators dedicated to the building industry. It’s surreal.

        • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          every house I’ve lived in has had something fucked up in it. Even if you have one guy doing everything correct, you have 20 other contractors coming in that can’t do basic addition and subtraction, let alone fractions.

          • glimse@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            I don’t think you’re implying this is exclusively an American issue or anything but that’s just the nature of construction unless you’re paying top dollar for accuracy when it matters.

            I’ve been on a hundred or more construction sites and I’d confidently wager that most houses don’t match the plans perfectly because of unforseen reasons…equipment changing due to lead times, electricians running their conduit in the wrong stud bays, etc. I’ve had to do a lot of creative problem solving and design modifications are inevitable. That’s the only thing I really miss from my old career

            • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              I’m just saying it doesn’t matter if one guy is really good because on projects that require multiple people a good team is all that matters. As far as uniqueness to the US vs everywhere, its probably worse here in the US but we have a lot of checks for extreme fuckups so we tend to just have a lot of low-mid tier fuckups. The big fuckups are when somebody lies on their expertise (like that university post tensioned beam bridge that fell in florida)

            • Kaity@leminal.space
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              7 months ago

              Even when you are paying for accuracy… I went to a home once for someone who paid for the builders to get everything perfect; the walls were crooked and warped like every wall I’ve ever seen.

          • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
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            7 months ago

            Part of that is that you need to work hard to find good people who do good work.

            The other issue is that all the skilled works are either old or dead. The young guys aren’t the same type.

            • phdepressed@sh.itjust.works
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              7 months ago

              At a societal level young people arent getting the benefits of their work. We’re getting what is paid for. They’re paying those old guys pensions+benefits but their own has been cut to the marrow. Consumers pay isn’t going to them. And good fucking luck to any of them trying to start up against behemoths both local and national that can nip them in the bud before they become competitive.

          • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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            7 months ago

            My parents just had a house built last year and there is so much shit wrong. The biggest thing I found is one of the alcoves on the side of their fireplace is a full 1.5" wider in the front than the back. You don’t have to measure to see it. How the fuck the guy who did the framing, or the guy who did the drywall, or anyone else walking past that fucking thing didn’t notice I have no idea. They sold their nice old house for that pile of shit and it’s not even better even if you ignore all the problems. It pisses me off so much because I told them this was going to happen.