Eh, yeah that's a fair point. I wonder if starting at one of those companies will be like walking into one of those houses built by an eccentric after a while though.

Probably more like a house built 100 years ago. I bought a made-to-measure blind for my flat a few weeks ago. Followed the instructions, went to attach it to my window frame only to find out that my window frame bows so much that the metal bar won't actually attach to the wall. Stuff like this is rampant in non-modern build housing, not just eccentric built.

In houses upkeep matters more than age. 2 out of 3 buildings I lived in are about a 100 years old (not present in map surveyed in 1914, present with right house numbers on map surveyed inbetween 1920 and 1924), and my current flat is in a 75y old building. Reinforced concrete skeleton, and the rest is brick. Best flats I ever lived in, the brick structure dampens the sounds well, and the high ceilings/tall windows let in a bunch of natural light.