Quote from: Cluster2k on April 30, 2013, 12:24:15 AM

Quote from: erk on April 29, 2013, 08:56:22 PM

In the real world people can wait for many months for a house to be built with a deposit much larger than the cost of a BFL device, and they are perfectly happy with that, as long as the builder doesn't go bust and they get their house in the end.

In the real world, having just had a house built I know how this works. The builder has compulsory insurance should they default before the house is finished. The insurance company would pay and I would have an angry bank chasing the builder (the bank paid the money, not me). In the real world we all know if BFL goes belly up before a customer's order is shipped there's basically nothing that can be done. A BFL asset sale would maybe return 5c in every dollar.

I also had a due date for the house and it was finished two months ahead of schedule. BFL has missed promised shipping dates since October 2012.

Apologies for the quick aside:

Back in the late 80's in Brentwood, TN, I was in the kitchen of Amy Grant's home watching her in tears while the new builder explained to her why 90% of the drywall needed to be removed from her almost finished home, originally built by an inept contractor.

It was to get to the faulty wiring and plumbing, with the rest of the walls needing replaced after they jack up the house and repair the foundation. The reason for not tearing down the home and rebuilding it from scratch eludes me, but it was a magnificent home on a prime piece of property perched on a hill, with a panoramic view one would die for.

The inept contractor was building 11 other homes at various stages of completion when he went belly-up. I picked up three more of these homes to do similar repairs, one of which was even more magnificent than Amy's beautiful home.