Yeah. My wife ran into this the other night too. It all comes back to the order of precedence, and Hearthlings not owning dependent build tasks.
Example:
- I need to build a ladder to reach this spot.
- I need to grab some wood and keep building in that spot.
- I’m done building in this spot, so this ladder can be removed now.
The way the game works now, you will likely get 3 different hearthlings assigned to each of those three steps. This almost always leads to ladders being removed before the hearthling in step 2 has had a chance to come down. And what happens when hearthlings can’t find a stockpile to place items (like wood) in their backpacks? They empty them on the ground wherever they are.
So my guess is that a hearthling gets stranded on the roof, can’t find the stockpile, empties their backpacks, then another ladder gets built by another hearthling as part of construction, and the stranded hearthling uses it to eventually escape, leaving the wood behind. Then, before the wood can be retrieved by another hearthling, the ladders are all pulled down. Bob’s your uncle: rooftops littered with spare wood.