Most of these houses, and most McMansions, would look and function much better if they just rid of two features: 1) Gables that don't terminate a wing of the h

Most of these houses, and most McMansions, would look and function much better if they just rid of two features: 1) Gables that don't terminate a wing of the house 2) Massive hip roofs #1 makes no sense from either an aesthetic or functional point of view and ends up doing nothing besides adding cost and making solar panel installation more difficult. #2 also makes solar panel installation more difficult, is harder to ventilate (or air seal and insulate, in the case of cathedral ceilings), and unless labor is extremely cheap, more expensive to build compared to trussed gable roofs.