If you describe houses or blocks of flats as jerry-built, you are critical of the fact that they have been built very quickly and cheaply, without much care for safety or quality.
[disapproval]
...jerry-built equipment.
The place is a bit jerry-built.
Synonyms: ramshackle, cheap, faulty, shabby More Synonyms of jerry-built
jerry-built in British English
(ˈdʒɛrɪˌbɪlt)
adjective
(of houses, flats, etc) built badly using cheap materials
The jerry-built houses had been neglected.
jerry-built equipment
The place is a bit jerry-built.
jerry-built in American English
(ˈdʒɛriˌbɪlt)
adjective
built poorly, of cheap materials
Word origin
< Jerry (as an old generalized epithet, esp. of belittlement: cf. jack), prob. reinforced by jury2
Examples of 'jerry-built' in a sentence
jerry-built
Admit it now, the case against Deirdre is a jerry-built thing.
Delman, David DEATH OF A NYMPH (2001)
They were jerry-built in the Victorian era, and then nearly shaken to bits during the Blitz.
Gaskin, Catherine THE AMBASSADOR'S WOMEN (2001)
There were a few parishioners hunched in contemplation near the jerry-built box of boards and blankets in which he heard confessions.
Louise Erdrich THE LAST REPORT ON THE MIRACLES AT LITTLE NO HORSE: A NOVEL (2001)