4 ms·

I gotta say this essay is a bit disappointing. It seems mostly an excuse for the author to grouse and enjoy their own flowery prose. It's the kind of writing

by Pxtl 4y ago

I gotta say this essay is a bit disappointing. It seems mostly an excuse for the author to grouse and enjoy their own flowery prose. It's the kind of writing I'd expect to see in a Neal Stephenson novel, and it's fun, but it's not really useful as an essay -- it offers very little insight or information. I've often been curious - besides the obvious problems of municipal red-tape, why is construction so expensive now? Here in the first world we have more money than ever and condos were going for a million apiece, so why do we build with the cheapest imaginable materials? Why can we no longer afford solid steel and concrete and ornament? The leftists blame corporate greed, but surely with margins that huge somebody would be cutting in and either making buildings that were either actually affordable or that used proper materials.

scythe 4y ago
Economies of less scale may be contributing. We still use a lot of concrete; use peaked in 2006. But most of that is for roads and bridges. Cement mixers are dispatched much less often to small projects. Developers have a strong preference for putting things up quickly, not waiting for cement to cure, which is compounded by high labor costs. Steel consumption has been roughly constant since the '90s, but prices have doubled, possibly due to energy costs. GFRP rebar performs similarly to steel but generally is even more expensive (the greatest misconception about plastic is that it's "cheap"), though this may be compensated in the long run due to its high corrosion resistance. The application of reinforced concrete is more cautious than it historically was due to rebar corrosion issues, requiring more waterproofing and higher safety factors; GFRP is virtually immune to corrosion but has (correctly) been subject to intense scrutiny to hopefully avoid a similar crisis due to any unexpected failure modes.
thatfrenchguy 4y ago
Construction is expensive because construction salaries are high. Authors clearly have never owned a century old building though, as easily shown in the first paragraph: > Our own walk begins across the street from our apartment, where, following the recent demolition of a perfectly serviceable hundred-year-old building, a monument to ugliness has recently besieged the block Century old buildings (I own in one!) are full of problems (plumbing, electricity, insulation, heating, lead paint) that are big projects for their owners, which 75% of the time they just ignore (thus kicking the can down the road), because renovation is even more expensive if you want to keep your building pretty / not destroy half your building while doing this. It’s a fun project for upper middle class folks who have either a lot of time to dedicate to them or a lot of money, sure, but not practical safe housing for most people.
- Pxtl 4y ago
  Hah yeah I live in a century home I know that feel. Double brick walls are lovely but there are definite downsides to living in that old a building. It's just that there's the obvious question "why don't we build new Old Buildings"? Some of it is obviously labour - nobody wants to pay a bricklayer in this day and age. I was mostly confused because I live in the greater Toronto/Hamilton area, which rapidly joined Vancouver and SF in insane price inflation, and so we're talking million dollar homes made of cheap materials.

by Pxtl 4y ago

scythe 4y ago

Economies of less scale may be contributing. We still use a lot of concrete; use peaked in 2006. But most of that is for roads and bridges. Cement mixers are dispatched much less often to small projects. Developers have a strong preference for putting things up quickly, not waiting for cement to cure, which is compounded by high labor costs. Steel consumption has been roughly constant since the '90s, but prices have doubled, possibly due to energy costs. GFRP rebar performs similarly to steel but generally is even more expensive (the greatest misconception about plastic is that it's "cheap"), though this may be compensated in the long run due to its high corrosion resistance. The application of reinforced concrete is more cautious than it historically was due to rebar corrosion issues, requiring more waterproofing and higher safety factors; GFRP is virtually immune to corrosion but has (correctly) been subject to intense scrutiny to hopefully avoid a similar crisis due to any unexpected failure modes.

thatfrenchguy 4y ago

Construction is expensive because construction salaries are high. Authors clearly have never owned a century old building though, as easily shown in the first paragraph: > Our own walk begins across the street from our apartment, where, following the recent demolition of a perfectly serviceable hundred-year-old building, a monument to ugliness has recently besieged the block Century old buildings (I own in one!) are full of problems (plumbing, electricity, insulation, heating, lead paint) that are big projects for their owners, which 75% of the time they just ignore (thus kicking the can down the road), because renovation is even more expensive if you want to keep your building pretty / not destroy half your building while doing this. It’s a fun project for upper middle class folks who have either a lot of time to dedicate to them or a lot of money, sure, but not practical safe housing for most people.

Pxtl 4y ago
Hah yeah I live in a century home I know that feel. Double brick walls are lovely but there are definite downsides to living in that old a building. It's just that there's the obvious question "why don't we build new Old Buildings"? Some of it is obviously labour - nobody wants to pay a bricklayer in this day and age. I was mostly confused because I live in the greater Toronto/Hamilton area, which rapidly joined Vancouver and SF in insane price inflation, and so we're talking million dollar homes made of cheap materials.