BUILDING HOMES

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 48, Issue 2818, 5 October 1938, Page 7

BUILDING HOMES

UNITED STATES SCHEME an architectural service BAD CONSTRUCTION STOPPED The working of the new Federal home-building service plan in the United States of America may yield Sol me helpful information for N'ew Zealand. “Not to be confused with a stock-plan service,” states the Architect™''! “ th \ Fe , deral plan aims to archrtectaral S “‘ vice to homes price: 4 und ” ’ s °* d °''. lars (about £lBOO in Nev. w aa an , CU . rency). The plan was eliminate jerry-building and J*®* guard investments.

“Although comparatively new, more than two years were spent in developing and testing the Federal homebuilding service plan sponsored by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. Applications for its use have been filed by 100 lending institutions, and the first steps have been taken toward application of the plan. The plan grew out of the experience of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, which was forced to recondition 500,000' out of the million homes it refinanced. This experience revealed the extent and tremendous waste of shoddy construction in the small home field.

“Essentially the plan proposes to equip members of the Federal Home Loan Bank system to offer new-home buyers a complete home-building service. The service comprises advice on financing and technical advisory and supervisory facilities supplied by co-operating architects and technicians. The plan furnishes these member lending institutions with a means of controlling the character of homes which they finance, to the end that inferior construction may be eliminated.

“With the co-operation of. the architectural profession, the service experts to attend the advantages of technical guidance into the vast field of small homes built for less than 7500 dollars. This field is recognised as the one most in need of such guidance. The miniature mansions,

built of papier-mache without benefit of competent design or supervision, have proved to be a yoke around the necks of both the low-income owner and the lending institution holding the mortgage. The high maintenance costs which jerry-building entailed have contributed to the great blighted areas which result from bankrupt home-owners’ inability to keep their houses in repair. “Under the plan each house must be built according to plans and specifications of an approved technician. Standard designs prepared by the cooperating group will be utilised in most instances. These must be approved by the architectural division of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board at Washington. Where designs are re-used, the designer is to be paid a royalty.

I “The lending stitution helps the I , owner to select from uv~-- ■ the desl &' n sulted h th / ’ iiwomu' A meeting 13 then needs ano meorne architect of the arranged with the . . make minor design chosen who may and o ther alterations without charge v -phe alterations at an established fe<_ f or architect will then inspect the site . suitability of the chosen design to the lot and the neighbourhood. At each stage, the architect will report to the lender on the soundness of his investment. Details of the frequency of inspection, etc., will be formulated by each local group. Specifically, the architectural group advises and assists the home builder, in securing an efficient design, suitable to the neighbourhood and the site; in the selection of qualified contractors through competitive bidding; in the provision of the customary contract documents; in the regular inspection of materials and workmanship.”