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What does it matter if construction is cheap and efficient? Nobody cares if cars are “built to last” 30+ years, because we can just make new cars. There’s a pe
by dcolkitt 6y ago
What does it matter if construction is cheap and efficient?
Nobody cares if cars are “built to last” 30+ years, because we can just make new cars. There’s a persistent mythology in construction about “they don’t make ‘em like they used too” and “back in the day they were true craftsmen”.
It’s mostly BS, old houses are incredibly shitty compared to modern standards. But this type of attitude slows down progress. Any sort of innovation or productivity improvement gets looked down upon as just being a way to cut corners.
- criddell 6y agoWell, there are the environmental costs of tearing down and building new vs upgrading an existing structure. There are also economic concerns. Most houses in the US hold some value beyond 30 years. A house build in 1990 in the US is usually still worth something but in Japan a lot of houses from that era are worth nothing. The land may be an asset still, but the structure is not.
- freetime2 6y agoYup, and loans are also cheap in Japan. You can get a 35 year fixed-rate mortgage at 1.5% APR [1]. Build a new 3 bedroom house for JPY 20,000,000 (~$185K USD), and you're paying JPY 61,000 (~$560) per month for a brand new house designed to your tastes, with all the modern conveniences (note this doesn't include cost of land). As an example of what that might get you, here's one of the first search results that comes up when looking for new houses in Omiya: https://www.athome.co.jp/kodate/6971997067/ https://www.athome.co.jp/kodate/6971997067/. The monthly payment on this house (including land) would be JPY 95,500 (~$880 USD). I personally bought my house used, but I can also understand why almost all of my neighbors chose to build new houses. [1] https://www.shinseibank.com/english/housing/loan_kinri.pdf https://www.shinseibank.com/english/housing/loan_kinri.pdf