Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-11-30

was carried out to the satisfaction of the
architect and owner. The result was a
dwelling with which the owner had some
thing to do, and naturally the architect
had given it some individuality. Further
than this, he got it at the lowest market
price.
Everything is changed now An owner
with anywhere from $1,000 to $4,000 in
the bank must apologize for taking such
a small job to the architect AS an arch
itect expresses it, whenever he Is called
upon to plan houses of this character he
always makes charge of 10 per cent.
with view to discouraging the prospec-
tive client, and thus compelling him to
go to some other architect. great many
men who have not designed any houses
worth speaking of assume this attitude
at the present time, and in all proba bi!lty
they were led to do it because of the
work and detail involved in designing and
constructing small dwellings. Many of
the leading architects in Chicago will not
take work of this class; others charge 10
per cent for houses costing 5000 or less.
For house costing more than $5OOO and
less than $4,000 the charge is, in many
instances, ~ per cent
The home builder should not think he
is out of the woods when he has found
an architect who has concentration
consideration-to design his house Trou-
bles then come from another source: The
architect has accepted the commission
and has completed the plans AS a rule
the house is in some outlying section,
maybe at Winnetka, Oak Park or La.
Grange. There are just q few contractors
in each place, and it does not take much
work to give them more than they can
do. They are hand-in-glove with the ma
terial dealers, as we'll as with each other,
and such a thing as competition is al
most out of the question. AS to getting
city contractor to estimate on the work.
1t can hardly be done. In the first place,
he does not care to take 1t, because 1t Is
such a small job. and in the second place
it is too far away. If he Is prevailed
upan to take it he insists upon getting an
should really be called upon to pay. and
when, the job is completed, in the event
there should be any changes, 1t is diff
cult and expensive as we'll as slow to get
him to have them attended to.
| 1t is wholly to the disadvantage of the
| city contractor to take the work. A
| well known architect had residence on
| the North Shore recently, for part of the
work on which four or five contractors
estimated The figures seemed extremely
| high. 1t was discovered that the bid
| ders had all gone to the same man, who
| had them under his control for esti-
mates. and had given to each the same
| figures and it was generally understood
! outsider was called III 10 figure upon the
| work, and on learning L would -sfoba bly,
! be let 10 this contractor the others sent
| i'll and told the architect that the partic-
ulsr community was theirs and that they
| did not care to have any outside con-
| tractor coming into territory which
| belonged to them. They wanted to know
| il the architect would talk to their rep
| resentative. A young man came into
| the office. looked over the plans and DIS
| covered without giving very much at
tertion to it that a mistake of $40 had
been r>ade on piece Of work the cost of
| whic'! was rosndly estimated at 81 .201.
! 1t is SO with every branch of industry
entering into che construction of house.
| TIE man who builds small dwell ng
pays the contractor larger profit and
| gets less in the way of good construction
| than ever before.
| 1t seems that there is no way out of
| 1t. The building of homes is u business
of itself. People who would like small
| home are today compelled to buy from
! n man who makes a speciality CT this
class of construction, and 1T should fer
| numerous reasons commend itself to
| home buyers. The men who are en-
ployed in building small houses. if they
| hasa not made life work out OF 1t, have
given it so much attention that they are
| almost more than what can be termed
| experts in their business. They have
studied the real estate situation thorough
! ly and know every choice bit Of residence