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Jesus Christ, this almost physically hurt to read. Its exactly the kind of thing I expect from when people in tech go try do something in other sectors without

Jesus Christ, this almost physically hurt to read. Its exactly the kind of thing I expect from when people in tech go try do something in other sectors without an adult in the room. Thoughts on the "lessons" (out of order, deliberately). Lesson 2: Word salad that basically means "we hired people who didn't know what they were doing, and expected the performance of professional tradesmen to just magically happen". Lesson 1: see lesson 2, but with additional process issues that anyone with any construction experience could have warned you about, and chronic understaffing to keep a lean headcount. Lesson 3: basically they decided to ignore tried and tested business strategies for growth and wing it instead. This didn't work. Lesson 4-6 mostly, again, are poor business planning. See also: recent HN threads of Hackernews readers largely incorrecting each other about work in the trades.

aliqot 4y ago
I've never wished ill on HN, but I'm glad they failed at this approach. People can get hurt, physically, financially, beyond repair by groups that take the software mentality into physical products. Skilled laborers cost money not for what they're doing for you, but for the years and sweat they put into knowing safety practices, codes, and proper workmanship.
- nibbleshifter 4y ago
  > People can get hurt, physically, financially, beyond repair by groups that take the software mentality into physical products. Exactly. And in this case, the physical product was to be housing. We have building codes for a reason...
- turtlebits 4y ago
  This is why inspections, engineered plans and structural calculations are required. Home owners who aren’t experts should be able to build their own house.
  - nibbleshifter 4y ago
    > Home owners who aren’t experts should be able to build their own house. They can. There's a massive difference though between self building for yourself, to live in, and building commercially for other, paying people to live in. While both need to be at least compliant with minimum standards of some form, commercial builders must be held to a higher standard given the third parties they are putting at risk.
porcheetoh 4y ago
Businesses fail all the time. Very often because the founders are inexperienced and underestimate just how much knowledge and skill it takes to run something seemingly simple. This is not unusual, it should not “physically hurt” to read. There but for the grace of god etc. The hyperbole and disdain is unappealing.
- nibbleshifter 4y ago
  "Move fast, break things" works fine with webshit. It doesn't work when you are building houses for people to live in, where mistakes (say, electrical, structural, or plumbing wise) can lead to fatal incidents. This lot were the absolute definition of fucking cowboys.
cprecioso 4y ago
Reading “incorrecting” made me remember I miss n-gate

aliqot 4y ago

I've never wished ill on HN, but I'm glad they failed at this approach. People can get hurt, physically, financially, beyond repair by groups that take the software mentality into physical products. Skilled laborers cost money not for what they're doing for you, but for the years and sweat they put into knowing safety practices, codes, and proper workmanship.

nibbleshifter 4y ago
> People can get hurt, physically, financially, beyond repair by groups that take the software mentality into physical products. Exactly. And in this case, the physical product was to be housing. We have building codes for a reason...
turtlebits 4y ago
This is why inspections, engineered plans and structural calculations are required. Home owners who aren’t experts should be able to build their own house.
- nibbleshifter 4y ago
  > Home owners who aren’t experts should be able to build their own house. They can. There's a massive difference though between self building for yourself, to live in, and building commercially for other, paying people to live in. While both need to be at least compliant with minimum standards of some form, commercial builders must be held to a higher standard given the third parties they are putting at risk.

porcheetoh 4y ago

Businesses fail all the time. Very often because the founders are inexperienced and underestimate just how much knowledge and skill it takes to run something seemingly simple. This is not unusual, it should not “physically hurt” to read. There but for the grace of god etc. The hyperbole and disdain is unappealing.

nibbleshifter 4y ago
"Move fast, break things" works fine with webshit. It doesn't work when you are building houses for people to live in, where mistakes (say, electrical, structural, or plumbing wise) can lead to fatal incidents. This lot were the absolute definition of fucking cowboys.

cprecioso 4y ago

Reading “incorrecting” made me remember I miss n-gate