As for the housing... stop using lumber maybe? Us Europeans build houses out of bricks and mortar or outright concrete.
Lumber framing only makes sense if you want something dirt cheap (and yet, US matchsticks and cardboard houses go for millions of dollars?!) or something that needs to be earthquake resilient and affordable.
> europeans who have zero knowledge of construction
I actually worked in construction and now studying electrical engineering, focus residential.
> weird grudge against wood framing
Well, it's cheap to build but sold to your population at prices that have us ROFLing, it needs to be treated with all kinds of nastyness to survive stuff like termites, a lot of construction is incredibly shoddy (watch some Cy Porter), it's not durable like our houses that last many decades to centuries... choose your pick.
I've lived most of my adult life in wooden structures that are over 100 years old. They will stand for another 100 as long as waterproofing is maintained (and a masonry building will be severely damaged as well if it is not waterproof). They have been through multiple earthquakes and are easy to repair if damaged, by opening up one of the "cardboard" walls and nailing in some more wood pieces. When they are built in wildfire-prone localities, they are coated in stucco and given concrete roof shingles, making them as fire resistant as masonry buildings. Houses are expensive in the US because the land is expensive here (location location location), and because there is shortage of skilled labor due to the high employment rate. Areas of the US with levels of economic performance similar to Europe have similarly cheap houses.
carterschonwald · · focus · HN ↗
esseph · · focus · HN ↗
If you are a builder, there is no sane way to bid on contracts with such hugely variable COGS.
And how the HELL do you even attempt to fix the US housing supply if you are tariffing Canadian lumber? You can't.
mschuster91 · · focus · HN ↗
Lumber framing only makes sense if you want something dirt cheap (and yet, US matchsticks and cardboard houses go for millions of dollars?!) or something that needs to be earthquake resilient and affordable.
woah · · focus · HN ↗
mschuster91 · · focus · HN ↗
I actually worked in construction and now studying electrical engineering, focus residential.
> weird grudge against wood framing
Well, it's cheap to build but sold to your population at prices that have us ROFLing, it needs to be treated with all kinds of nastyness to survive stuff like termites, a lot of construction is incredibly shoddy (watch some Cy Porter), it's not durable like our houses that last many decades to centuries... choose your pick.
esseph · · focus · HN ↗
And none of your homes would last more than 50y here before an earthquake, tornado, or hurricane destroyed them.
woah · · focus · HN ↗