My dad, who has been a carpenter for over 50 years used to rail against boxing in pipes.

"Once upon a time people were just glad to have running water, now it has to arrive by magic"

In his house there is a duct behind the skirting boards upstairs. You can fish a wire to most places from there.

His other pet hate was glued down cupboard flooring. Squeaky floors were a common complaint in new houses. It was normally caused by not levelling the first floor joists properly (levelling the tops is the correct way), and just dropping them on the walls. The solution industry came up with was to glue the tounges and grooves together, and later to glue the boards to the joists as well. This is a big problem if you need to take up the floor for a leaking pipe. Whereas before you just cut the tongue of a board with a circular saw, pulled it up, and put a noggin under the joint, now you have to destroy a board, and try and buy a similar one