A sector moving backwards

If "there is a real role for the CIOB in helping house buying customers to become better educated", how does Chris Blythe propose this is undertaken? ('Wising up to shoddy work', CM March.) The UK motor industry has improved to world-class standards since the era of British Leyland in the mid 1970s. The UK house building industry has not. Need proof? Take the following as an example.

I own a four-bedroom house, built in 1988 by one of the national builders to the standards of its day. Recently I visited two new (but similar show homes) built by different builders. I was disappointed with the quality, the finish and the design quality. The internal doors, the units, the staircase, the architraves, and the skirting were all inferior to those in my home. And the finish? I viewed water stains across the kitchen ceiling and down the walls, warped internal doors (which didn't latch), creaking floors and a loft with rolls of fibreglass that had not been laid.

With regard to design, I viewed the dry lined walls (mine are plastered), the lightweight partitions (mine are ex 50x75 CLS with 9.5mm plasterboard, scrimmed and skimmed), the limited off-street parking and single garages (I have a double drive and a double detached garage) and the absence of a front garden.

I then considered the builder's perspective. A site manager and/or a finishing foreman had inspected, snagged and signed off the standard of finish. Knowing these houses would be viewed by hundreds of prospective purchasers, the builder would have gone the extra mile to ensure a superlative standard – or so one would expect. The reality was far removed from this.

I can think of no other consumer product where this situation has occurred. Would CM readers accept a 1988 Cavalier in lieu of the latest Vectra? A 36-exposure rangefinder camera in place of the latest digital affair, a record deck or cassette player in lieu of a snazzy CD player or a Sinclair computer instead of the latest laptop?