re: People who went from nice older home to newer one

The build is crappy because Americans want the most you can get and the largest house possible for the cheapest price.

You can use premium materials and hire an outstanding builder, but you will pay for it. For example, I recently designed a house with help from an architect using premium materials including a slate roof. It was designed to withstand hurricanes and flooding. It was over double the cost of what a similar sized house can get built for by a different contractor. My builder said he could reduce it 20% to 30% by using cheaper but still quality stuff, but further cuts will result in a bland house. We bought a different new construction completed house which is half the size, but it a few years we plan to start building the new house. It is above average quality.

I won’t cut corners. Do it right or don’t do it at all.

A problem is that the average builder promises the world and after you commit he cuts corners where you don’t notice it initially.