Mr. and Mrs. Builder
Mr. and Mrs. Builder
By 1949, there had been a boom in owner-building across the United States, Canada, and Australia. Owners accounted for a third of all new houses and a quarter of all dwellings of any kind, which were often being constructed outside city limits. Homesteading was taking place everywhere, in clustered developments and scattered locations. Despite the scarcity of building materials, the Canadian and U.S. governments helped to revive the building industry, the latter through a new Veterans Emergency Housing Program. Once they realized the magnitude of the amateur building boom, consumer magazines began to cater to owner-builders by offering assistance in the form of plans and tips. Newspapers, publishers, and plan companies did the same. Together, they convinced consumers that house construction was not as complicated as it sounded, that “anyone can build a house.” The idea caught on among amateur builders frustrated by the postwar housing shortage.
Keywords: owner-building, United States, Canada, homesteading, building materials, building industry, amateur building, consumer magazines, house construction, housing shortage
Chicago Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
