Reply #21: I have a friend who just got back from Qatar, where evidently much the same [View All]

[calimary]

construction boom is underway.

He said the finest materials are used - some really beautiful tiles and marbles and draperies and paint and fixtures etc, but the workmanship is awful. He said he sees it all over the outside where finishing is just not there, caulking is all sloppy and gloppy, tile work is uneven and carelessly done. He said they'll hang the finest drapes on the windows BEFORE they paint, so you see this gorgeous fabric with paint along the edges and the drywall behind it bare! He said if it's this slip-shod where you can see, it's frightening to imagine what substandard workmanship lurks underneath, where you can't see. Thought-provoking, to say the least!

AND those palm-shaped man-made islands, he said, were all made of rocks and sand. Sand doesn't compact. Evidently there's going to be a monumental effort to fight the effects of natural erosion - from the merciless sun and heat, and tides and water exposure. God, I hope they know what they're doing. In such hog-wild situations, it's awfully easy to cut corners. He said people were working 12-hour shifts, round-the-clock. He went over at the behest of his parents who are over there as engineers and construction people. He said they're very well-paid, and get two-week vacations every, what? Ten or 12 weeks (I forgot already - so much he talked about, hearing it is as overwhelming as it is looking at these pictures).