What a bizarrely hostile-feeling response. I'm not sure the person you were responding to was making the point that we are building for 100+ years of use, simply that most properties where he lives were easily as old as that and experienced little in the way of issues.

None of the 100/200+ year old houses and flats I have lived in - both within the UK and other older European cities - have had any major defects beyond what some of my other acquaintances living in modern buildings have experienced. They have all been perfectly "comfortable" as a 'new build' property.