Not necessarily, when everything is standardized and mass market it become nearly impossible to find options that don’t follow the “norms”. New housing developers have little incentive to do anything beyond look like their competitors, which as also bland and standard and not designed for actual living. People don’t have any other options due to the housing shortages.
A good craftsman should be able to tell you how well a house is constructed before purchase. Not that I'm saying that would have been easy to fit into your schedule.