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What architects draw on the blueprints and what designers model can be a very far cry from what ends up being constructed. Pipes and wires in random places. Sloppily set tiles. Toilets that are beyond saving. Interiors and exteriors that seem to hate people. These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to laziness and rushed work.

‘Les Perles du Bâtiment,’ aka ‘Building Pearls,’ is a popular French Facebook group that features some of the most hilariously horrible construction fails. We’ve collected some of the very worst offenders. Scroll down to check them out, and upvote the ones that made you gasp and say, ‘Mon Dieu, quelle horreur!’

#3

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LES PERLES DU BÂTIMENT (officiel) Report

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MontanaMariner
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It takes far less effort to relay it like this, pressure wash it then repaint. You'd have to number each brick to lay it back the way it came out, and that is far more time consuming and expensive.

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Pink kitty
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When your day job is road work but you can't control the artist inside you

Dave Hanel
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They clearly did a road repair here. Easier just to repaint it than to sort all the puzzle pieces.

WindySwede
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Would you like your eggs sunny side up, or scrambled? Yes..

Id row
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Dude found out he was being let go at the end of the shift and said f it.

Zophra
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Isn't striping usually painted on? So wouldn't this section be intentionally removed to reconstruct this way?

Mentally Unhinged
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Do you? If you don't, making a joke about OCD like that is not very respectful. There are a lot more compulsions beyond jsut the typical example of wanting everything to be organised.

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Linnoff
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I hate visual glitches, someone should really patch this game, so many bugs

Lesbitarian Lady
Community Member
Premium
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Bothers me, to no end when someone doesn't do the job right. It would have been a fun puzzle figuring it out

Jana Jankova
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!

Lia is a platypus
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why didn't they just paint the bricks after? I know this a fail page, but I'm genuinely curious. Is this common?

Atlas
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I really want to know what happened here, like were they drunk? Was it an Alien envision???

BryanR
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'd bet that was a repair job, that the people doing it did NOT care.

Vasana Phong
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Must’ve had a mid break at the bar and came back to finish up

SCP 4666
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nah it was just Friday half an hour before end of work 😄

ladi da
Community Member
1 year ago

This comment has been deleted.

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The Facebook group, ‘Les Perles du Bâtiment,’ has quite a sizeable following on the social media platform. Nearly 247.6k internet users are members of this online community.

At its core, the group has a very clear focus: to share the “best of the worst” in building construction. And it’s all done for fun! Members are encouraged to enjoy themselves and to post construction fail photos for the sake of entertainment.

#5

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Stéphane Pellé Report

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Tucker Cahooter
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The stick figure needs to be on the other side, holding it up like all the tourists do at the Leaning Tower of Pisa

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The group’s two administrators point out that the community should strive to create “a welcoming environment” and stress the fact that this is “everyone’s responsibility.”

Members should treat each other with the respect that they deserve. It’s important to remember that when opinions diverge. “It’s okay to have constructive debates, but it’s essential to be friendly,” the admins remind the group.

#7

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Vincent Guillaud-rollin Report

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PetPotato
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For those days when you want to curl up in a ball and cry silently in the shower.

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There are three main areas where things can go disastrously wrong when building a new property or renovating an older project. Ideally, you want to see a balance between the architect or designer’s vision, the needs and demands of the client, as well as the skills and performance of the contractors you employ to bring the entire idea to life.

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But let’s be real—it’s a miracle if everyone’s on the same page throughout the entire project. It requires fantastic communication, great leadership, and quick thinking when things (inevitably) go wrong.

One thing that can derail the entire building project is an overly-ambitious or temperamental designer. Aside from technical skills and a wonderfully active imagination, architects and designers also have to have managerial skills. And that means being good leaders: supporting contracts, communicating clearly and often, dealing with conflicts in a calm and professional manner. Things can go disastrously wrong if those skills are lacking.

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So designers who are unable to clearly express themselves to their contractors can indirectly cause mistakes as certain aspects of the project get misinterpreted. Meanwhile, overly-arrogant architects can focus too much on their artistic vision, entirely at the expense of functionality and practicality. Some builders might not be able to turn those imaginative ideas into reality due to a lack of skills or materials. While the people who end up living in the house or apartment may be confused by the designer’s artistic direction and a user-unfriendly interior.

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Secondly, the clients themselves can end up harming the overall result. Something that many of you Pandas will probably agree with is just how distracting and annoying people who constantly change their opinions can be. Flip-floppers won’t win you any friends, no matter the industry, especially not construction and design.

So if you have a client who keeps changing their thoughts on what tiles should be used in the bathroom, how many lights they want in the living room, and what colors the walls should be, it’s a nightmare waiting to happen. This sort of flip-flopping is going to slow the entire building or renovation process down considerably, as the designer and contractors have to redo some parts. Meanwhile, the builders themselves are bound to get frustrated and demotivated. After all, why bother working hard and quickly if you might have to redo everything again and again (and again!)?

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Last but certainly not least, the contractors, the boots on the ground, lie at the core of what will either become a testament to design greatness… or will end up being poked fun at on ‘Les Perles du Bâtiment.’ 

As we’ve covered before on Bored Panda, there’s a wide range of reasons why contractors might make unaesthetic mistakes or incredibly bizarre decisions. Some builders might run out of the materials they need and may not find the right alternatives. So instead, they have to settle for some cheaper substitutes. Others might realize that what’s demanded from them won’t be practical, so they opt for functionality over beauty.

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However, it doesn’t mean that all mistakes are innocent. Contractors are as varied as any other group of experts. Inevitably, you’ll run into some who don’t care about being professional: they want to get paid the greatest amount of money for the least amount of work. So they’ll be slow and sloppy because they simply don’t care about design or the client. Others might intentionally choose to cut costs and go for cheap materials and shoddy work. Something that is likely to haunt the people living on the property for years to come.

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So, tell us, dear Pandas, which of these construction fails terrified you the most? Have you ever seen anything as bad in real life? Why do you personally think mistakes like the ones featured in this list get made at all? Share your thoughts and experiences with contractors in the comments. We can't wait to hear from you.

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#35

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Artisan du Bâtiment Report

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Rodney McKay
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's not a fail. It's a basement toilet retrofit where a drain pipe isn't available below the toilet location. Ugly implementation, but technically reasonable.

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#37

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Guide Oman Report

#42

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Nicolas Poss Report

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martin734
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The translation is "At this point it is better to repaint the whole road"

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#47

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100% Auto le meilleur du pire Report

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Roselyn Park
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think that is just a locked car park. I’m guessing that once it’s paid for, the pole can be unlocked and removed.

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#50

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LES PERLES DU BÂTIMENT (officiel) Report

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Nizumi
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wouldn't mind the fact that this is now a squat toilet so much if the stall wall actually made it to the floor! Seriously - by the time you squat, your undercarriage is totally on display.

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#60

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Samuel Bruneau Report

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Will Cable
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The picture on the wall looks like a social comment for how bad the work is.

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#62

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Benoit Andrea Moret Report

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2WheelTravlr
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Dang it George, the window is still leaking, get up on that roof and add another pound of spackle!"

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#69

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Ickick Adsanos Report

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#75

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Samuel Grau Report

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Downunderdude
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yep, I'm a bit of a handyman. Why pay a fortune to a tradesman when you can do just as good a job yourself?

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#76

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Le monde des bricoleurs - Infos, entraides, tutos et fails Report

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Khavrinen
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's not a construction fail, that's just improvising when you have no utensils. Not too sanitary, but otherwise functional.

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#77

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Tom Tom Report

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Bored Seb
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

in case you haven't notice the tube on the left... probably meaning that the washing machine is emptying grey water in the bath... (well, it could be seen as a way to save on water....)

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#80

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Jeremy Lo Greco Report

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Dave Hanel
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pretty sure this is foam insulation. Doesn't matter. They piece it in however they can to fill all the gaps

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#87

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David Dieu Sanchez Report

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#89

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Fab Bouvier Report

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#90

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Joel Titeux Report

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WindySwede
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What should they do? Drill a large hole in the natural stones destroying the house? Have it curved around? 🫠

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#93

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Alex Farinelli Report

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#99

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Frederic Enzensommer Report

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S. E. in Indiana
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A gutter for the roof over the trash cans, wow. And I just leave mine out in the open. Hope they don't find out.

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#101

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Emilie Sonia Body Report

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#105

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Anthony Alves Report

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Duncan
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They even put a straight line, through the switch and still put the pipe there anyway.

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#107

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Goy' Caradeuc Report

#108

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Nicolas Pooky Chapman Report

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#111

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Newton Burns Report

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#113

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Claude Tapparo Report

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Did I say that out loud?
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There seems to be a common denominator with all these Darwin Award contenders. Can't quite put my finger on it though.

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#116

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Cyril Léglise Report

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Richard Henderson
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

First bend gets the pipe back to the wall. Second bend takes the dropper away from the skylight. Still looks pretty funny.

#117

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Miguel Blommaert Report

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#124

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Dimitri Gibert Report

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#129

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J-c Clay Report

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#131

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Newton Burns Report

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Richard Henderson
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Capped off water outlets and incomplete tiling. What’s the problem here?

#132

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Gaet Guyard Report

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#133

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Faycal Benabdelhafid Report

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#135

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Dorian Orts Report

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Dynein
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Took me a while to see the issue here... the window has a roller shutter with a metal outside box for the "shutter roll". When you have issues with the shutter you can just remove the box to access the shutter... unless it's been incorporated into the wall. Then, no. (Looks like they added insulation and just covered the box)

#136

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David Off Report

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#139

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Yoann Aurélie Many Mélia Report

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