What happned to the Quick Builds

blownaway

So the QBs were huge in the 80s and 90s, now I hear nothing. Have they stopped?

Betheliesalot

My guess is they going in the other direction, with "slow mergers". Just an out of the loop observation.

Simon

It all just seemed to fall apart ...

My guess is that the demand for thrown-together buildings wasn't high so they were not as valuable an investment real-estate wise compared to more traditional buildings.

Also, they became less news-worthy which was the only point to them really, because it doesn't really matter if a KH takes a week or 3 months to be built does it - the only point to the quick-builds was publicity.

Londo111

In the 80's there was growth. Now there isn't.

Also...it used to be if JWs wanted a new Kingdom Hall, they saved the money, or took out a loan, and had it builts. And the property was theirs.

Since that time, Watchtower has taken centralized control of all Kingdom Hall builds, repairs, and property.

sir82

Don't know about other countries, but in the US, a lot of those "quick builds" were really pretty shoddy.

"Good enough to pass inspection" does not necessarily mean "well built".

A few years down the road, and the problems started to surface. Leaking roofs, cracked foundations, crappy plumbing, dangerous wiring, mold....

The WTS finally, for once, listened to reason and stated the RBC system.

Of course, since that worked so well, they completely abandoned it in favor of "LDCs", which evidently have the purpose of preventing KH construction. I think the number of KHs built in the US last year was in the single digits.

_Morpheus

Que slim in 3...2....

aside from the gloom and doom chorus, the “wuick builds” went away in the early 2000’s. The logic presented was “too much time planning, too many moving pices to coordinate” etc etc.... the reality was they were NEVER 3 days builds. Ever. I worked on plenty and they always had months of planning ahead of time, foundations were dug and poured at least two months out, sewer and water a couple of months, power a couple weeks minimum etc etc...

what was done the weekend of the build was impressive in some respects but ultimately pointless. We tilted up prefab walls on Thursday, set roof trusses on Friday, nailed shingle underlayment and tar paper and began shingling. Inside drywall went up on fridays (tile was already laid and covered to protect) etc etc... it was a ton of work but my god there hundreds of people standing around doing nothing most of the time not to mention the huge food service that was necessary and lots of uncessary saftey risks with so many untrained people wandering around. It never lived up to the hype since we always spent weeks going back doing punch list items anyway not to mention the months leading up. It was a dog and pony show and ended up not being well supported by experianced tradmem. The new thing is the “ldc” local design committee crap.

Betheliesalot

So much for showing off to other religions that "Jokehovah was behind them". I recall one hall I think in west Katy texas had to be torn down because of just too many issues and rebuilt correctly , sometime in the 90,s.

just fine

After leaving I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and they actually had skilled tradesmen do the work on the properties.

I agree with the other posters the reality of quick builds were shoddy work, done fast, for show. I went on many builds and had to stay for the entire weekend. It was a good way to get out of the Thursday meeting, Saturday service, and Sunday meeting.

kairos

I was just thinking about this today as well.

The quick builds were all part of an elaborate scam.
Free labor and in some cases free/reduced cost materials and in some instances, real estate.

The everyday dub had a sense of 'ownership' or 'entitlement' towards the KH projects.
Nope. Not even close to reality.

Now WT is cashing in their chips and there is not damn thing you can do about it.
It wasn't God's organization. It is a corporate publishing house turned real estate investment company disguised as a religion. ( for profit )

I have likely worked on no fewer than 20 quick builds in Northern California from 1988- the early 2000s. All for the financial gain of WT. We were told it was a great witness to god, when is was in fact, just free labor...

I'm bitter

neat blue dog

_Morpheus:

That's exactly what I was gonna say, there were never any real quick builds, the whole thing was just a big parlor trick, to get attention. And those ignorant of what went on behind the scenes thought it was some kind of 'miracle'. 😒 And yes, all the people standing around (I was one of them, the unskilled volunteers). They don't mind, because nobody's being paid.

What happned to the Quick Builds

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