We know how to build lots of things cheaply. Things like clothes, toys, TV/computers and food have all gotten relatively much cheaper over my lifetime. These are mass produced, at a pretty high quality in factories with very specialised labour.
Housing however has not. The numbers who own by age 30 (when you want some stability if you are going to have kids) keeps dropping. One thing that could encourage cheaper housing is more programs that promote non unique one off builds. Instead of Ireland's most exclusive homes we should show the most inclusive ones.
Just Grand Designs where the house is fine and loads of them are made. “I can’t see the justification for gross spending on what are essentially basic requirements.” Kevin McCloud
Room to Improve where we build enough houses to give adults room to improve their lives by not having to silently ride in their parents house
RTE Home of The Year should be for a design of house that's had 1000 delivered this year and people can afford. Then have a decorating competition show between people who live in this same type of house. Thats fairer in terms of a competition and more practical help to people in how to decorate their own house.
There isn't a build your own car program. Grow your own food. Make your own pencil. As a hobby these are all worthwhile but the home building programs are not about a hobby.
The reason things are cheap is the specialisation of labor and mechanized production. Why are houses different? And why does TV encourage this expensive way of building houses?
Maybe I'm missing something in what you've written, but what makes houses different is you need a patch of land to put them on, and they have to stay there, unlike with pencils and cars. The cost of the patch of land is what causes the big problem with housing; manufacturing the walls and roof is incidental to that -- hence Kevin and Dermot can piss about with that trivial bit on telly.
ReplyDeleteThats a fair point. Land is a huge issue. As McCloud says “What’s really needed is a complete radical state-controlled distribution of land and a removal of land profit from the equation. That sounds nuts and Stalinistic, but it’s exactly what happens in Germany,”
ReplyDeleteEstimates of what percentage of a houses price is from the land seem to vary but
"The group, which represents estate agents and surveyors, said the price of land for a three bed semi-detached house is about €60,000 on average, or 20 per cent of the total cost of the property." https://www.irishtimes.com/business/construction/land-for-houses-prohibitively-expensive-surveyors-body-says-1.4156901 60k cost must be in an undeveloped area but if you are building lots of houses in one batch it will be in an undeveloped area.