The Owner Built Home & Homestead
(Page 3 of 23)
Excessive profits are made by the general contractor for
coordinating the work stages and assuming the
responsibility for a satisfactory completion at a specified
cost. For this service he receives 10% of the total cost of
your house. Besides, he receives an even greater percentage
on all materials which go into the structure. The
contractor is an expensive and non-essential luxury for the
low-income home builder.
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4. USE NATIVE MATERIALS WHENEVER POSSIBLE.
Much of an architect's time is spent in keeping abreast of
the new "improved" building materials which manufacturers
make each month. Many of the products are really
worthwhile; but more often than not they are entirely
beyond the reach of the average home builder. Basic
materials, like common cement and structural 2 x 4's, have
not appreciably advanced in price over the past dozen
years. But some of the newer surfacing materials and
interior fixtures have sky-rocketed in price during this
same period.
By not using these high-cost materials, one of course nips
the problem in the bud. Instead, emphasis should be placed
on readily available natural resources—materials that
come directly from the site or from a convenient hauling
distance. Rock and earth and concrete and timber and all
such materials have excellent structural and heat
regulating qualities when properly used.
5. SUPPLY YOUR OWN LABOR. Building Trades
Unions have received—and not unjustly so—a
notorious reputation as wasters of speed and efficiency in
building work. We all know that painters are restricted to
the 4-inch brush and that carpenters are limited to the
14-oz. hammer (upon threat of penalty from union
officials). Apparently more width and weight might
conceivably speed up a project to the point where some
union man would prove expendable.
The disinterest that the average journeyman has in his
work, despite his high union pay rate, is appalling. The
lack of joy-in-work or acceptance of responsibility among
average workmen can be accounted for partly by the
de-humanizing effect of the whole wage system. So long as
the "master-and-slave" type of employer-employee
relationship continues to exist in our society, one can
expect only the worst performance from his hired "help". So
until the dawn of the New Era approaches, one would do well
from an economic, as well as from a self-satisfying
standpoint, to supply his own labor for his own home
insofar as he can.
6. DESIGN AND PLAN YOUR OWN HOME. Another
ten-percenter with whom we can well afford to dispense in
building a low-cost home is the
architect-designer-craftsman-supervisor. Experience in this
branch of home building has led me to the conclusion that
anyone can and everyone should design his
own home. There is only one possible drawback here; the
owner-builder must know what he wants in a home and must be
familiar with the building site and regional climatic
conditions. Without close acquaintance with the site and a
clear understanding of family living needs, the project is
doomed to failure no matter who designs the house. An
architect—even a good architect—cannot
interpret a client's building needs better than the client
himself. Anyway, most contemporary architects design houses
for themselves, not their clients. They work at satisfying
some esthetic whim, and fail really to understand the
character of the site and the personal requirements of the
client.
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