The Farmhouse i5°5 



foot; if it is simpler, it will cost less. A rough estimate may thus be 

 reached before the work is undertaken or is figured out by the contractor. 



With our present standards of building it is likely that in no locality 

 can a house with modern improvements be erected for less than twelve 

 cents per cubic foot, and that a modest house need not exceed twenty 

 cents per cubic foot unless fireproof construction is used. An average 

 cost of about fifteen cents per cubic foot is probably fair for most country 

 districts. 



Much has been said and written about the present high cost of building. 

 It is true that a house of a given size to-day often costs twice as much 

 as one of the same size would have cost twenty-five years ago; but this 

 advance is due not alone to the increased cost of labor and material, 

 but also to the fact that we are not comparing similar types of dwellings. 

 We are comparing a house equipped with heat, running water, hard- 

 wood floors, many closets, and frequently with electric light and built-in 

 furniture, with a mere weather-proof structure built with single floors, 

 no closets, and few or no modern improvements Many more trades 

 and much more equipment than formerly now go into the building of a 

 comfortable house. It is the amount and the kind of equ pment that 

 increases the cost; a house thirty by forty feet may be made to cost three 

 thousand dollars or ten thousand dollars, according to the beauty and 

 finish of interior woodwork, floors, and walls, the amount of plumbing, 

 the number and kind of fixtures selected, or the kind of heating plant 

 installed. The interest on this increased investment must be reckoned 

 in distinctly human terms; increased joy of living, greater comfort, finer 

 health, and simpler housework for the women, should be sufficient return 

 for any man who loves his home and family. 



BY WAY OF ADVICE 



Any person who expects to make alterations in a house should begin to 

 ponder improvements a long time in advance. The first step should be 

 an accurately measured record of the present floor plans, drawn at a 

 scale of one quarter inch to the foot. The exact size and position of 

 walls, openings, closets, chimneys, or other existing features should be 

 located on these drawings, which may then be studied by comparing 

 them with other good plans found in books and magazines. Tissue 

 paper or, better still, tracing paper may then be placed over the drawings 

 and alteration sketches freely made. A dozen arrangements may thus 

 be tried on paper, hung on the wall, and considered at leisure. These 

 plans should be supplemented by a building-book in which one may 

 keep measurements, written data, and new ideas as they occur. In this 

 book clippings may be pasted and sketches may be freely made. These 



