Are Newly-Built Houses Worse Than Old Houses?

Buying a house comes with a lot of responsibilities.

While it’s the dream of many to own their own home, it’s never as simple as just making a payment and moving in. Homes require a ton of maintenance—and if one’s house is old, they’re going to find themselves making a lot of fixes and replacements over the course of the home’s life.

Seeing this, some may believe that a newly built home is the best option for a long-term investment. However, a recent viral video from a home inspector shows that this may not be the best idea, either.

What’s Wrong With New Houses?

In a video with over 311,000 views, TikTok user Austin Jenkins (@inspector_aj) introduces viewers to the house he’s about to inspect. According to him, the house cost “around $430,000.”

Throughout the course of the video, Jenkins shows numerous problems with the house—some of them critical.

To start, many items are simply not properly affixed. Light fixtures can be easily removed from walls. The toilets are not secured, causing them to shift with minimal effort. Railings also sway easily. Not only that, but the vinyl siding covering the home lifts off of the house with ease.

Second, there are simple quality control issues across the property. Some areas are unpainted, wood is unsanded, and several pieces of the house are clearly broken—either because they were broken from the beginning or because they were broken at some point during installation and never replaced.

Additionally, the HVAC condensate drain line is pointed toward the house. This is a problem as, per Jenkins, “all of that condensate’s gonna go under the condenser straight back to the house.”

Are There Any Major Safety Concerns?

While many of the aforementioned issues also pose safety problems, there’s one major issue specifically that brings Jenkins pause.

“This stuff right here is called fire foam,” he says, referring to bright orange foam that can be seen in several areas on the property. “The International Residential code requires that a certain type of fire blocking, AKA fire foam—it’s a great product, by the way—be applied when penetrations go through garage walls and ceilings to ultimately help prevent the spread of a fire. So, that’s why if you go into a home and you see this orange foam around the penetrations, this is proper. That’s the exact way that it’s supposed to be done.”

Although Jenkins says that it’s good the home has fire foam, he notes that it’s missing in several key areas.

“It’s unfinished,” he declares. “They need to come back and do another application of this stuff, because I don’t know if the city or the county has passed this yet, but that’s a fail.”

Later, Jenkins observes a water heater. One of the pipes going off of the water heater is PVC—which is rated for potable water, but not hot potable water.

“That needs to either be copper, preferred, or PEX, at least,” he explains.

To conclude, he notes leaking pipes and the fact that not all sides of the doors are painted. The latter, he says, is required by most manufacturers.

“A $430,000 brand new construction home,” he summarizes. “What do you think?”

Are Homes Getting Worse?

Seeing this video, some may wonder if the quality of new-built homes has gone downhill.

So, have they? The answer to that question is a bit complicated.

First, complaints that new houses are going down in quality aren’t new. As explained by a 2024 piece for MarketWatch, many modern home inspectors say they’ve noted issues with newly built homes since the pandemic. Around that time, there was a sudden and large demand for new homes; consequently, some theorize that builders cut corners.

Not only that, but the piece notes that many homebuyers are forgoing home inspections in order to win in competitive bidding wars. This could result in more homes coming to market with significant issues.

Are Older Houses Better Than Newer Houses?

However, as previously noted by BroBible, there are a few problems with the thinking that older houses are inherently better.

To start, significant survivorship bias is at play when it comes to answering the question of whether houses are made worse than they were in the past. There could be many poorly made houses in the past that were simply demolished and replaced, leaving only the better quality houses standing today.

Next, there are many problems with old houses that are less common with new houses. For example, improvements in insulation mean that new houses are often cheaper to heat than older houses. Not only that, but improved safety standards mean that a new house may be safer than an old house.

Commenters Don’t Like New Houses

In the comments section, users offered their thoughts on the perceived decline in housing quality.

“My cardboard Barbie dream house had more structural integrity,” wrote a user.

“New construction means RUSHED construction. Nope,” added another.

“What’s ridiculous is that it hits all disciplines,” offered a further TikToker. “Construction, plumbing, electrical, painting – does anyone care about their work??”