A lot of ancient writers didn't shy away from writing awful things about emperors. You could say that it was for propaganda purposes of their successors, but regardless of their motives, why wouldn't they write about their construction failures as well?
Remember, we aren't talking about modern society with access to a ton of recording essentials, we are talking about a very select few educated individuals (given the overall population) that were probably preoccupied writing much more important things then a building project failure.
Attempting a public works project could still be seen as a positive thing? "Nero at least tried to build new baths, what has Domitian ever done for us?"
Sure, there were plenty of "hit pieces" in the Twelve Caesars, but in what was effectively ancient tabloid press, what will generate more interest - a story about how a given emperor's temple foundations were inadequate, or some spurious story about the emperor wanting to enroll his horse as a senator?
