Replace Roof Once Every 120 Years - But Not In Vancouver

Anecdotes about Vancouver construction quality often involve disbelieving visiting foreigners. Are locals blinkered in this regard? This from Partisan Spectator at Vancouver Condo Info July 11th, 2008 at 1:29pm -

“My relative, a professional construction engineer from Poland with 40+ years of experience, was here visiting my family for the first time (his first time in North America). Once he saw a few construction sites (SFH, lowrise and highrise ones) he wholeheartedly LOL about house quality and the building code. He could not imagine people throwing away massive amounts of money to get a house that has a warranty for max 10 years. He and his family are living in an apartment building that was built about 140 years ago. For the whole lifecycle, the roof has been replaced once about 20 years ago, and there was no structural repairs. Sewer is still original and will be replaced in 10 years. Water pipes were re-done about 30 years ago. The 4-storey building still has the original stucco that have been painted every 6-7 years and the original wiring. Inside the apartment, all doors and hardwood (oak) and stucco are in the same shape as 140 years ago. Anybody can say something similar about their dwelling in Van? “