It's not all that much of a head scratcher. Texas prioritizes speed and cheapness in building. Nothing is built to last more than 20 years. The entire vibe of the state is that everything is provisional. It's an extraction camp the size of 3 Germanys.
I stayed at a hotel outside of Austin and it was on par with my first apartment out of college, smelling something like a blend of plywood and cockroach droppings. That was the most expensive hotel in the area, too.
