I'm not a construction expert but this looked funny to me. We were looking at a house to buy and I noticed the walls seemed to have some flex when closing doors or bumping a door frame with a shoulder. I crawled in the attic and I think I confirmed my suspicions.

With 2x4's spaced so far apart and the lack of braces, this seems like incredibly cheap construction. Is this style construction as weak as it seems or do I not know what I'm talking about?

Your tape measure pic is of rafters. Did you measure the spacing on wall studs?

If the price is one you like and you enter into a contracts, won't you have a profession inspection?

That's about as thin as you'll see, but you're not in Alaska with a ton of snow load or paying $300/SF either. If the price was right, I would still buy and add some collar ties up there. But you might have to move a ton of insulation to get back to some of those.

But if you are worried about other "hidden" cheap work, then, yeah, it's probably cheap. Do you have hurricane straps? Do you need them? Do you want them? There's no easy way to verify after the walls have been covered up.

I've had a $1MM house I had to add extra supports to the roof. I was up there looking at a roof replacement and felt really "bouncy" in a couple of spots. Checked the attic and there were a few spots with long unsupported roof rafters. But maybe that's just me. I've framed up a few entire houses in my early days. It's not rocket science.

The construction codes in dfw (not sure that is where you are) are a joke. Enforcement is laughable. Builders have been politically smart and bought their way to cheap construction from our wonderful completely for sale politician "leaders". They have set the rules in their favor. It is a complete joke that we even act like there are rules.

But realistically, we don't have frigid cold, hurricanes or earthquakes. You cannot build for tornadoes and hail doesn't destroy the house (usually). Most construction around here is questionable to poor. But most will last for a while.

This house is in a gated community in Comanche, TX

Outside of city limits I am sure but in County. That allows more corners to be cut if the builder wants to. House does not looks like anything special IMO.

Ultimately your decision and you have to be comfortable with decisions you make else you don't need to make it

Sorry I was snarky and have no idea where that is. There really isn't a clear cut answer. They are not going to change basic construction practices,.no matter what you, a good home inspector, a good realtor whoever says. They love the
" it meets code answer."

Out in the county, or unincorporated areas are worse. Ultimately you need to look at whether or not you are comfortable with the way it is built. Exterior solid Door shaking the wall - not unusual. Hell, I live Ina 50nyonfox and Jacob's house in Dallas with 24 inch center studs and an engineered truss roof. It is fine.

Like most things it probably comes down to money/finance. Are you getting a good deal that works for your budget? Will it appreciate well so you can turn it when you want to? Does it fit your needs now and for the time you want to live there? Like I said, I doubt that it is so bad it will fall down. The bigger concerns on new construction, in my experience, are leaks (Roof, windows and showers), hvac, etc. There is a lot more to worry about than stud spacing.

Is that 2x2s on the gable end? Not seeing a shadow from 2x4s.

I second putting collar ties on every other set of rafters.

Also, you'll have crappy cell phone reception in the house. Lower energy bills, but dropped calls.

Just about any Craftsman I've inspected in San Antonio, including the two that I own, have gables built just like that. 1x6 ridge and 2x4 rafters. They may or may not have collar ties and occasionally I'll see one that will brace the rafters to a ceiling joist with a 2x4 but that's about it.

Not saying it's not cheap by today's standards but it's not likely to fall apart in the next 100 years due to this roof construction.

I'm not a home builder but I have been in an attic or two. "Collar ties" aren't going to be a lot of use here and they may not even be required. Typically they are to to prevent spreading but bear in mind that your rafters, in this house, are attached to your floor joists, which are serving the same purpose. Add rafter ties, collar ties, whatever if it makes you feel better, but they aren't necessary. As mentioned, if you are in a heavy snow area of hurricane prone areas then that is a different matter.

I have barns that are over 140 years old with framing not a lot different than yours. Granted they are true 2x4 but the point remains.

Again, I'm not a home builder or an engineer but my "top of my head" feeling is that your house isn't going to fall apart. I would prefer that the roof rafters were attached to the ridge with metal ties though.

https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/IRC2021P1/chapter-8-roof-ceiling-construction

There is a table of how far each rafter can go unsupported.

Under current codes they would need a purlin every 8-4 assuming that's yp #2.

If they are overspanned they are easy to add., current codes would require collar ties, but none of that is out of the ordinary. At least the sheathing isn't thermaply.