THE HOME AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 381 



much the most desirable, as it gives a cool shaded yard in the 

 afternoon and evening during the summer, but if one lives east 

 of the road, and must build facing the west, I would advise a 

 south portico and frontage, and an arrangement of trees to 

 secure shade. 



The size of the house must depend largely on the means of 

 the owner, but a small house may be made tasty, and be con- 

 veniently arranged, as well as a large and expensive one. A 

 building plan should never be decided on hastily, but every de- 

 tail should be carefully studied, and before the work is begun 

 you should know to a dollar what the house is to cost. Many 

 people think this impossible, and hundreds have begun to build 

 expecting to get through on a certain sum and have found the 

 cost double what they had estimated. This comes from begin- 

 ning the work without thorough preparation. Even if there is 

 a contract with the builder to put up the house at a given 

 price, if the plan is changed after the work is begun it annuls 

 the contract and gives an opportunity for extra charges, which 

 often increase the cost greatly. 



Settle your plan fully before you begin if it takes a year. 

 Spare no time or expense to know that your plan is one that 

 you will be satisfied with. Get illustrated books on house 

 building, and study the plans given, take your wife with you 

 and visit all the best houses near you, and note their defects as 

 well as their excellencies; and when sure your plan will suit 

 you, have a contract drawn which shall cover every detail, and 

 specify every point, and give out the job to a competent, honest 

 builder, and you will have no extras to pay for when the work 

 is done. I feel that I can not emphasize this point too strongly, 

 as I have known so many cases where the cost of a house has 

 exceeded by from five hundred to one thousand dollars what 

 was expected, leaving the builder burdened with a debt which 

 he had not anticipated and would not have knowingly con- 

 tracted. My own experience in building shows that it is as 

 easy to know the cost of a house before its erection is begun as 

 it is when completed, or as it is that of a farm or any other piece 

 of property. 



