For my local industry, at least, generally houses are built better (not that they’re that great compared to houses built in the 80s or earlier) because the materials aren’t bought in bulk like they do for apartments and there’s less opportunity to ‘off spec’ (cheap alternative products).

That’s not to say that cheap materials aren’t used but there’s a lot less pressure to go bottom of the barrel. Plus, the home owner also has a bit more control than an apartment owner during construction.

There’s also a lot more that can go wrong in an apartment than in a house. Lifts, for example. We had an issue in one of the high rises in the city where a lift was broken and there was a huge queue. Whereas in houses, the main issue I’ve been seeing in housing is poorly built housing extensions from unqualified builders.

All in all, it’s more liveable to be in a poorly built house than in a poorly built apartment.