Very interesting topic. My $.02 worth is this....
The majority of RV buyers are enamored with the bling and not the build quality. RV manufacturers know this and they put everything shiny and fancy on the interior and skimp on what's beneath so they can make the profit point they desire. It's like building a house. In every state there are minimum building safety codes that MUST be followed. If the builder follows the codes to a "Tee", then you have exactly what you should expect... a house built to minimum safety specs. That means that in some states you can get a nice looking house with floor joists made form 2x8 material on a 24" center. Now whereas that's acceptable as far as minimum standards, it isn't what you really want. BUT....unless you are building your second house or you are a builder yourself, you wouldn't know that until you start having problems and are forced to look into the problem. If you are buying the house already built, as in the case of RVs, then you get to look at all the shiny stuff that the salesman shows you, like stainless appliances and faux-marble counter-tops and think you have a great house...when in reality, you walk across the floors and they squeak with each step, the heating/cooling bill is very high because the house was built with minimum insulation factor, the roofing shingles won't last but 5 years because the builder saved money by using lesser expensive shingles, and you stand a much greater risk of fire because the wiring wasn't installed in metal conduit to protect it's insulation from nicks and shortages. You STILL have a great looking house that you could afford on an average salary, but it's already riddled with problems that are just waiting to rear their ugly heads.
With RVs, there is a price point that the average consumer can afford. If they put the bulk of the production budget into high quality materials under the floors and in the walls and used more plain cosmetic stuff on top, they wouldn't sell nearly as many coaches as they would with all the bling-bling that you see when you step inside one of these homes on wheels in an RV show. Honestly? I seriously doubt anyone except the richest could afford an extremely high quality build AND all the cosmetic niceties that we have come to expect from the RV industry.
