偷工减料

tōu gōng jiǎn liào

to cut corners

Character by character

偷tōu
steal

工gōng
labour

减jiǎn
reduce

料liào
materials

这栋楼偷工减料，没住几年就漏水了。

The building was jerry-built and started leaking within a few years.

Tone: negative (criticism).

Originally of builders skimping on labour and materials, now of any shoddy work.

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