What kind of quality and craftsmanship should I expect in a new 5th wheel?

[BruceinFL]

Don't expect any, then you will not be disappointed.  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

[Homer1959]

There is no excuse for trim falling off, elec. fixture installed sideways, leaky faucet, or overthighten screw splitting wood and left as is.

We are buying overpriced junk, for an activity that we all enjoy, too many peoples are trying to find excuse for the RV indusries and or company , actually they defend their brand more that the brand defend itself, so we are not done seeing half build trailer being delivered.

Finally, for the peoples justifying the poor workmanship in relation with the price paid, remember it doesn't cost more to install something straight and level than loose and sideway.

poor design can be excused since you have the choice to buy or not,  poor workmanship is not excusable, its plainly a lack of respect for the customer...

and excuse my frenchglish ;-)

 

[mdbass]

Geez! Just think what might have happened (or not) if they had had a strong quality control department and inspected the RVs before sending them to the dealer. What a concept.
FWIW Our 03 Fleetwood Pride has been an excellent, mostly trouble free 5ver.

 

[Homer1959]

Hey hey Jayco brags about their QC...thats BS, my trailer came with celing light b/o, Kitchen drawer face board rubbing on a side panel, bedroom sliding door not fitting in the receiving slot on the adjacent wall, not to mention the many splitted piece of wood cause by overtighten screw and that just to name a few defect.....where was their Quality control ? Are they afraid to kick Amish butts...they are making me laughin so much with their superior Amish craftmanship LOL

 

[elliott-maine]

Many people get on the forums and bitch about quality, problems, etc.  You very rarely have people get on to say they have no problems.  Yes, even higher cost units have problems, so don't expect everything will be prefect, even though it should be.

 

[wmcclay]

Its cheaper to have the dealer fix items they know are wrong than to put it back on the line for repairs. Most problems are caught in the PDI pre delivery inspection and repaired before you do a walk thru. Its all dollars here

 

[Frizlefrak]

Finally, for the peoples justifying the poor workmanship in relation with the price paid, remember it doesn't cost more to install something straight and level than loose and sideway.

When your boss is crawling up your behind to get X number of units out the door by the end of the day, that is the result.  Why is he doing this?  Because his boss is crawling up his butt to get X number of units out the door.  Why is his boss doing this?  Because the CEO is crawling up his butt to get X number of units out the door by the end of the day.  Why is the CEO doing this?  Because the shareholders are demanding a certain ROI, or they will move their money somewhere they can get a better ROI....thus putting the company out of business.

Slowing down the assembly means fewer units per man hour.  Either ROI suffers or price goes up.  We just discussed what happens when ROI suffers, so the other answer is price goes up....then you can't compete with the competition that is cranking X number of units out the door....and the same thing happens....you shutter the business.

I've been a manager at a large corporate entity for 27 years now.  We do similar things to save a buck  This is how it's done. The cost monsters always win.  Welcome to 2015.  Do I like it?  Of course not....but there is a line halfway around the block of people half my age who will do my job for half what I make.  All of us do our jobs half-assed sometimes just because that's how we're told to do them.  At the end of the day, it's about keeping the investors happy.  If I don't do that, they will find somebody who will.

So why can the car companies crank out near perfect specimens all day long and still control costs?  Because they're building tens of thousands of copies of the same thing with little deviation.  RV's....not so much.