The Owner Built Home & Homestead
(Page 2 of 23)
Tracing these causes to their sources has helped me to view
the problem in perspective—comprehensively. This
procedure has also suggested some workable alternatives as
solutions to personal housing needs. Here they are in the
form of seven axioms for the Owner-Built Home.
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1. BUILD ACCORDING TO YOUR OWN BEST
JUDGMENT. At the apex of the poor building
hierarchy—and perhaps the greatest single impediment
to good housing—is convention. Building convention
takes two forms; first, there is convention which is
socially instilled (commonly called style ), which
can be altered through education. The second type is more
vicious, and politically enforced. Building codes, zoning
restrictions, and ordinances all fall into this clas s. In
urban jurisdictions, politically controlled convention
calls the shots for practically every segment of the
building industry. Ordinance approval or disapproval makes
the difference between having a house or having none at
all. Or it may make a difference of $1,000 (average)-wasted
because of stupid, antiquated building laws.
So if we are to be at liberty to build our own home at less
cost, we must necessarily be free from all building code
jurisdiction. This means we must locate outside of urban
control—in the country or small township districts.
2. IN BUILDING YOUR HOME, PAY AS YOU GO. A
building loan is another type of legalized robbery, added
to that of the building codes. More than any other agency,
banks have been successful in reducing would-be-democratic
man to a state of perpetual serfdom. The bankers have
supported and helped to determine social and political
convention, and have amassed phenomenal fortunes through
unearned increment. As "friends" of the home-owner they
have made it possible for him to take immediate possession
of his new home—and pay for it monthly for 20 to 30
years. Most people who fall into this trap fail to realize
that the accumulating interest on their 30-year mortgage
comes to more than double the market value of their home!
If one expects any success at all in keeping the costs of
his new home down to a reasonable price, he must keep
entirely free from interest rates.
3. ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR BUILDING
CONSTRUCTION. The general contractor has become
such a key functionary in practically every building
operation that one soon loses sight of the fact that he is
a relative newcomer to the housing scene. Not many years
ago the contractor's job was performed by a supervising
carpenter—a so-called master builder who had control
of the whole project. Once people realize how little is
involved in implementing a set of house plans, they will
better appreciate the fact that the contractor is the most
expendable element on any job.
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