This construction worker called out the housing industry and said homes are basically built of cardboard nowadays.
Yet, people are buying these shoddy homes because they are unaware of the build quality and because the housing shortage has gotten so bad.
Pew Trusts reports that there is an estimated home shortage of 4 to 7 million. And the homes that are available aren’t widely affordable.
Construction worker POV
In the viral video, construction worker Daniel Hamman (@daniel.hamman) reveals what modern-day homes are really made of. It has been viewed over 6.2 million times.
In TikTok, Hamman is on the job and shows that they’re working on building multiple homes simultaneously.
“I want to show you what these sons of [expletive] are made out of,” Hamman says.
As he walks around the frame of the house, he shows that the wood beams and walls aren’t even properly nailed together. The nails attaching the two were visible to the naked eye when the two should really be flush together.
“Behind all those bricks, there’s this,” Hamman says, pointing to the ThermoPly boards being used.
“Ain’t [expletive] to it. Y’all want y’all’s goddamn homes built out of [expletive] cardboard?” he concludes.
@daniel.hamman Housing industry is a scam! #realestate #real #fypシ #fyp #scam #housing #housingmarket #truthbetold #bubblr ♬ original sound – Daniel Hamman
What is Thermo-Ply?
Despite Hamman basically saying that Thermo-Ply is fancy cardboard, there’s more to the material than that.
While the material looks like a thin but sturdier cardboard, it’s actually “structural sheathing.” It’s typically used in construction for elements like exterior walls, floors, and roofs.
The company describes it as “high-strength cellulosic fiber boards.” Thermo-Ply also has a coating on it that makes it water-resistant on both sides.
Unlike its competitor, Thermo-Ply boasts about its stable pricing, high moisture tolerance, customer sizing, and lack of formaldehyde.
Is home-build quality decreasing?
It’s generally understood that things aren’t made as well as they used to be, and that includes homes.
While there’s no concrete, in-depth investigation into how and why homes seem to be of lower quality than before, various experts have come to the same conclusion as homeowners: It’s now more expensive to build a lower-quality home.
Materials are also more expensive than before, so developers may cut corners on what is used. Modern construction materials are much different than their predecessors.
There’s a labor shortage, especially when it comes to highly skilled craftspeople, so those who get hired to do the work may not have the same expertise and attention to detail as previous builders.
Plus, developers confronting both the housing demand and wanting to make more money may push projects along more quickly with the goal of building quantity over quality.
In a Medium deep dive, architect Anthony Giannini wrote that only 2% of newly built homes in the United States have direct architect involvement. This makes it so that the design is less intentional and developers end up building the same cookie cutter designs.
Commenters react
“Any house built in 3 weeks isn’t worth buying,” a top comment read.
“Don’t buy anything under 1990,” a person said.
“Brother, in europe you have chicken coops better build than that…literally no joke,” another added.
The Daily Dot reached out to Hamman for comment via TikTok direct message and comment. We also reached out to the company behind Thermo-Ply, OX, via contact form.
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