Rough sheetrock finishing in million dollar California homes, shoddy trim work, cracked concrete, roofing companies that doe well but whose shoddy work shows when Southern California finally gets some rain, and bizarre things seen in plumbing and electrical work, skilled “landscaping” work that is now thought of as someone who mows your yard and uses a trimmer and rakes it up, retaining walls done that bulge within a few years, bathroom tile that shows flaws within a few years or perhaps the sealer was forgotten, house painters that merely know how to use a brush and a roller with no deep knowledge.
Anyone who has looked at the ramshackle building that these third world countries do with their total lack of skilled trades, would know that they are never going to be the equivalent of the skilled American and European craftsmen of 1970s pre-immigration.
We pulled into one slab ready to start framing and we're popping lines where the walls go, etc. look around a bunch of pipes sticking out of the slab in the middle of the living room !!! Turns out it was the manifold for the water heater connects to the plumbing system so we told the Stupidintendent says go ahead and start framing up. "I'll get this handled". We come in a few days later and there's plumbers in there with jackhammers to create a rough replica of the Panama Canal across the center of the living room to where the water heater closet was supposed to be then cut the manifold off, soldered 90's to the pipes make it go down the Panama Canal to the manifold in Water Heater closet. Then bring a bunch of sand mix not actual concrete and cover up the pipes that they soldered together !!!
Then another slab had a 50' long side wall and we popped lines to reveal a 7-8" at widest point of bulging section about 20' long. Stupidintendent (same one as above) says frame it up I'll deal with it. The next day after the outer walls had been framed here comes the Pedro slab crew with a jackhammer and chips it off to match our framework. This leaves the cables hanging out in the air. (these are Post Tension slabs) and Pedro crew return with a Cutting Torch and burn the exposed cables off. Next comes the Pedro Slab guys and mud over the cut cable ends...
Sometimes I wonder if the slab has cracked somewhere yet like in the dining room or a bathroom ?
And of course the never ending supply of Customized Pedro Beams. Consistently made by taking a 2x12x20 and scabbing scraps of 2x of this and that between 6" and 36" to make a "Super Pedro Glue Laminate Beam." ©️™️®️
There were probably more nails in them than wood...