South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-04-20
NOW IS TIME To
BUILD NE W HOME
COllated Opinions of ArChi.
teCtS and Builders Indi-
cate Advantage.

The following from House and
Garden. throws interesting light on
the building situation
During the last three months
House & Garden has been making
a countrywide survey OF building
conditions. costs Of materials. labor
etc, in order that II might place be-
fore It's readers such facts as would
guide them in prospective building
operations. The collated opinions
OF architects. builders. and manu-
facturers show a condition that is
very prOpitious for building Archi-
tects attest that the work is already
beginning 10 creep from their draft
ing boards. The information serv-
Ice Of House q Garden is receiving
more building inquiries on building
than ever before i'm its history.
Manufactures report that. despite
labor uncertainty and the confusion
that needs must follow the reintro-
duction OF 100000 men back into
the business and manufacturing
world. prices viii soon begin to
show a more reasonable proportion
The war put a necessary inhibi-
ton on building and the transpOrta-
tion Of building materials Six
months have passed now since the
armistice was signed Government
contracts are no longer eating up
the output Of our factories. and the
railroads are open for the handling
of building necessities. For four
years men and women who planned
10 build homes were hesitant about
the prospects. and during the past
two years private building almost
came To a standstill.
Situation Now Changed.
This situation now changed. it is
both the opportunity and the duty
of those who plan to build to go
ahead with the work. While prices
are still high, the only way they can
be lowered is by increasing the de-
mand for the goods. Increased de
mand brings quantity production,
and quantity production brings lower
rates. Moreover. labor. seeing that
there is work TO be done, viii soon
enough settle down and do it. No
situation is more conducive to high
prices than stagnatiOn in the labor
ing and manufacturing world. With
out demand such stagnatiOn is in
evitable
1t is the high prices of building
material that make so many pros
pective home builders wait for the
Utopia when prices will drop 10 a
pre-war level AS one architect ex-
planned it, "a good many people
have forgotten the fact that in nor
NAL times building increased about
five percent a year, so that if there
had been no war, building in 1918
would have been about % percent
more than in 1914 Therefore. the
excess price for abnormal time:
must be calculated above the .,
percent on this basis the exces.
for normal times is not as great az
some people think"
Another architect advises tina
readers will not gain much by lon:
postponement of their building op
erations. They may get a slight de
ductiOn in cost. but they would los
the advantage and pleasure Of thei
new building in the interval. Thi
same architect reports that durini
the week previous ne started ex
cavations for one $4,000 house il
Cleveland. and was going ahea,
with plans for 20 more in the sam
city.
Plans Creep ut First.
In the beginning of any great re
sumption Of business, such as build
at first Yet there is every indica
tion that the desire of prosperity
builders at the present is bein
withheld by fear Of prices. TIL
first question. then. that a ma
must ask himself is: How niue
do I want this homer" For fou
years he has been hesitating on pa
triotic grounds on the same pa
triotic ground he should now g
ahead. Only by the energies of tn
individual home builder, the willing
ness and intent 10 see his dream q
"a home contaminated in brick an
stone and stucco. can the preser
creeping stage of the building situa
ton be stimulated into healthy a
ton.
House & Garden feels justified
advising its readers to go ahead Wit
their building. II the work Is o
the architects drafting boards dar
the future and make il move &roI
those boards-teli the architect
so ahead. If YOU have not yet cor
suited an architect, go TO him nov
Lay your plans nov. study up o
the purposes and capacities OF n
various building materials which s
into the makeup CO a house Pla
20 use the best materials yoJ
money can buy. Get together wit
the architect. See that house b'
Gin 10 shape itself on paper-an
then transform II from paper int
The real thing.