Higher quality costs less. Period. That’s a paradox at the very least, if it’s not down right incorrect. Or is it? We’ve been led to believe for years, at least by the homebuilding industry, that high quality costs more. But is it true? It doesn’t have to be. In fact, it never should be.
To make clear what I’m talking about, let’s first define quality. To do that, think of a car: a “high-quality” car should go at least 100,000 miles before needing any major maintenance, maybe further. My wife and I had a 2000 Honda Odyssey minivan that was still going strong at 169,000 miles before we go rid of it (OK, a minor fender-bender, and the insurance company calls it a “total”- not the car’s fault). Now, that van didn’t have many bells and whistles (we knew the kids would trash it anyway), but the main thing is that it cost $26,000 and we drove it for 10 years. That’s $2,600 per year for a car that needed nothing more than an oil change for over 150,000 miles. That’s the definition of quality, and it was a lot less money than the equivalent Chrysler that would have spent half its life in the shop.
Why should you expect less from your home, something that cost several times more money than my minivan? Right about now I would bet that many of you are thinking, “my house has crown molding”, or “yes, but I want granite counter tops”… That’s all well and good, but that’s not quality. That’s how the homebuilding industry defines it, and how many home buyers define it, but those items are bells and whistles. If your granite counter tops have a nasty seam that looks like a speed bump, then those counter tops are low-quality. If your neighbor has Formica counter tops that have invisible seams, then your neighbor’s Formica counter tops are higher quality than your granite ones. Which one costs more? This brings us to the underlying reason why high quality costs less.
Imagine you are the granite counter top installer. You arrive at the job site and discover that the person who installed the cabinets, upon which you are about to install the beautiful granite counter tops, didn’t bother to make sure the cabinets were straight and level. Now, your counter tops are as flat as a pool table, but the surface that will support them is about as flat as the Rocky Mountains. How’s that going to work out? Do you think you’re going to have a problem doing a quality job? Maybe you can cobble something together with some wood shims and so forth, but do you think that’s going to take more or less time than it would if the cabinets were level to begin with? If it takes you more time, are you going to want to be paid more or less for doing the job? All of a sudden, a poor quality job just cost more than a high quality one!
The same principle applies to every stage of home building. How many times does a framing carpenter have to compensate for a foundation or slab that isn’t level and square? How many times does a cabinet maker have to figure out how to install cabinets in a corner that isn’t square? If you were one of those contractors, wouldn’t you charge more for working on those jobs where you had to compensate for someone else’s sloppy work? While your at it, would you really bother trying to do a high-quality job if the builder didn’t insist upon high quality work from the contractor that came before you? From now on, when you look at new homes, ask yourself how much of that high price (probably more than $100 per square foot!) is because of poor quality craftsmanship. More importantly, ask yourself whether you deserve better. I think you already know the answer.
Thanks for reading!
Tim
About Tim Turner