Omaha daily bee., 1909-07-11
SEC n DOH
Guide Posts for the Home Builder
Arthur o. Caussu. Architect

tent, conscientious and reliable workmeu
only be employed on the work. A mar at
tempting to build his own home, in most
cases, has not had enough previous expert
ence to enable him to select workmen
coming up TO this standard. He may be
lucky enough to get together a crew of
competent workmen. but the chances are
against him, since these men are to a large
extent employed the year around by con-
tractors. There is also a considerable
loss to a man attempting to buiId his own
home through mismanagement. The writer
recently observed on a home being built
by day labor that the mason was mixing
his own mortar and carrying his own
brick. He was being paid IS a day for his
work and spending half OF his time doing
the work Of a common laborer at $50 a
day or less. Hero is a good example OF
the usual results that come from rylnR to
buy your own material and building by
day labor. A man recently bought a
double house, which by a few changes was
easily converted into a slx-flat flat build
ing. The work could have been lone for
1880. but, thinking he might save money.
he hired a carpenter-foreman purchased
his own material and spent $500. Instead
SN PAOPcAh ~ CicaI as ne might
easily have done had he taken his ar
chitect's advice. he had to obtain a loan
on IT in order to complete the work.
Guide post No. 4: DO not try to reduce
the expense of your home by building
on a cheap lot and II you are building
for investment purposes only, be sure thai
the cost OF the house you are going to
build is in due proportion to the value OF
the lot A good usn 70 .
ter Is to figure or paying for your lot
about one-third the cost of your house
This refers to city property only, for. Of
course. country homes are built under en-
tlrely different conditions. II you buy a
lot In a certain locality at a very low price
II is because there is not a great demand
for property in that neighborhood. That
means that other lots are being sold 10
people who can not afford more ana WIN
VIII build an inferior class OF houses.
good example is the beautiful country lust
this side OF WashbuTn park. Here a few
years ago lots were sold as low as S2OO
and $500. The result OF this is that this
beautiful building property was rapidly
filled up with shacks and a few good
homes OF a very small size. 1t would be
very hard to dispose of a home costing
5000 or 5000 in a neighborhood of this
kind although not a difficult matter Ia
dispose OF costing 5000 or less. Our
beautiful Lowry Hill district, especially
that part Of it that lies nearest Groveland
Terrace. is what 1t is today through the
foresight OF its two original owners, one
OF whom is still living. who realized the
possibilities OF the situation and refused
TO sell property TO any man who would
not build a beautiful home and insisted
that Il must not be built OF frame. The
result Is that an exclusive neighborhood
was built up and in recent years these
men VIII have profited to a large extent
through the prices which they obtained on
the property that they stnl had left 20
sell. A house in a desirable location can
always be sold for more than Il cost II 1,
u vel sTranEed a. 70 plan and has a