Some people develop a love-hate relationship with construction work. It’s a process that requires lots of time and effort, which might be tiresome. It also takes patience (and at least a bit of skill), whether it’s Lego blocks or home renovation.

The love part is the urge to build something nice or bring something back to life. Yet even with the best of intentions, some projects are not meant to be fulfilled. Research shows that only 39% of projects succeed in meeting all the requirements for deadlines, budgets, and required features or functions. That leaves over 60% of them either late, over budget, or boasting quality similar to what you can see in these pictures.

Construction fails happen for all kinds of reasons. Some might be related to poor planning, others fall fully on the shoulders of the construction workers. Be that as it may, it proves how important every detail is in this hazardous industry.

Building Research & Information determined four factors most structural failures can be traced to. The first two relate to errors in the design of permanent structures and the design of falsework. The third refers to the lack of communication between the designer and the builder. The final one indicates poor construction practices.

When it comes to construction work, you might want to double check everything. And by everything, we mean everything, starting with who’s responsible for overlooking it. Hiring a reliable crew is crucial no matter the project, as the consequences might be pretty unfortunate. Or absolutely hilarious.

Finding the right people for the job might not be an easy task to do, though. Data shows that skilled labor shortage is the main challenge of the global construction industry. It is followed closely by labor disputes and a lack of confidence.

Despite the difficulties in trying to find the right crew, construction workers comprise the largest segment of professionals in the field (17.3%), based on reviews by Finances Online. Carpenters take second place on the list (9.23%).

The number of professionals is likely to be on the rise with the growth of the industry. According to the aforementioned data, the annual growth of the US construction industry in the years from 2014 to 2019 reached 8.3%. Statista indicated that the number of production workers in construction increased in 2021 compared to 2020.

Employment data shows noticeable gender inequality in the construction industry. According to Statista, women comprised only around 11% of workers in 2021. That might be one of the reasons why female construction workers are still viewed as something rather unusual. As a consequence, they tend to receive commentary while working in this industry. 

A survey conducted in the UK in 2019 showed that over 40% of women in construction received inappropriate comments from their male colleagues. In addition to that, as much as 72% of them experienced gender discrimination in the workplace.

As seen in some of these pictures, some construction projects happen to be a do-it-yourself kind of endeavor. People with different skill sets try their hand at fixing or building something, which happens more often than one might think. According to Comfy Living, 36% of Americans start a DIY project to make their home a nicer place to live. Moreover, 57% of homeowners feel their house is still in a “work-in-progress” stage, whether it’s decorating or things in need of repair.

Whether it’s a DIY project or a problem that needs fixing around the house, people often turn to the internet for help. And to be fair, the online world can be a great source of information on how to repair or build things. 

You can find all sorts of material, from instructions and manuals to people sharing their insights and advice from their own experience. However, it is important to properly evaluate your capabilities and leave certain things to the professionals. Or some projects might end up being as useful as stairs leading straight into a wall.

Construction work is one of the places where you really want to avoid any mess-ups. Work of poor quality might result in a disaster or harm your reputation at best. In some cases, however, people responsible for the mishaps manage to avoid any bigger misfortunes.

Their main worry in these situations is usually ending up online as an example of how not to do your job. And that’s what makes the internet not only a great source of information on how to fix things but a bottomless pit of documented attempts that have gone wrong as well.