BUILDING A HOUSE
■ - — : —♦- ——. WHERE THE MONEY GOES
TIMBER A SMALL FACTOR
■ Following .the luoro or less vaguoicontrovorsyoii tho reason of tho stiff prices '..for' building, it is'.interesting to light example where the 'finest analysis -or. tho cost has'-been made, showing be- . yond all disputo exactly whero tho money .''goosi'This comes in tho form of a letter ■ written .by a resident in a large provin- - olnl - town in tho Wellington district, oh !'tlio Mailt Trunk liue. He writes: "Eef quiring a residence of sis rooms,' I in- >. strocted nil architect to preparo plans ' oiul call for tender?. Five were received, tho lowest at -C 1175, the others ranging up to =£1450.. . On acceptance they placed ilu~ order for tho wholo of tho limber with my firm, and I encloso-this order, •,totalling- .£262. -You will nolo that in this 'building, costing ,£1175 (plus architect's foe, i!G0), the timber is a very Kmall factor connected, with tho high cost. ;;Kiirtheiy tho,cost of the same tim'borin pre-war times would bo approximately ".-C6O less'than at present, and this sum, *669, therefore represents the actual amount of tho increase on the building to-day for which timber is responsible.'
..'Deducting tho £262 from X' 1175, wo have a. Balance of- £91$, representing other hiaterinl (iron, paint, paper,'. scrim, glass, bricks, hardware, .etc.), and it is quite clear that these articles, which have advanced probably on tho average of quite 250 per cent., coupled witU,'the muoh higher wages ruling, are responsible for tho high cost of'building at the present time." ' .
, Pursuing the timber to tho railway / trucks, alongside the mill, its cost was then only JilG9 os. sd. (or .£23 3s. id. per room); railage cost .£3O (or JiS-.per room); cartage, SA 3s. 9d. (14s. per room); dressing, handling, etc.,: .£52 (is. 2d. (;£8 lis. ;4d. per. room), which amounts, 1 totalled ■ up, make .£255 iOs. 4d.,.0r i£262 Jess the usual 2} per cent, discount. The o.rchitecfe fees ran into dß7(i:'lss. (£l2 355. a room); labour, joinery, bricks and briek- , laying, • plumbing, and builder's profit, -<£901 9s. Bd. (£l5O ss. 'a room). The architect's fee would be inadb up of' 5 per . cent, from the owner, .£SB 155., and 1J • per oent. fjom the'builder, that ; the owner actually -pays the amount of the tender, plus fhe ,£SB 155., which make , up. the cost of the six-roomed wooden house to £1233 15s.—only iflffi) cf which was spent on timber. From the abovo figures, it.is not difficult, to arrive at the point where tlto money goes. Aptly enough, the above ligures, which ftrei guaranteed by the man who had to < pay, endorse? the statement' mailo in . these columns by the representative of a •■shingle (gravr;!) and etind firm,in "Wellington, who contended that enough shingle /.' (from the bed of tho Hutt River) for the jrection of a six-ronied concrete house could be delivered almost anywhere in . Wellington at a cost of £35, liis contention being—as in the fabove-mentioned oaso--th<tt it was not the price of'the , principal building .material; that was : responsible for the high coot of building, , but that profit waa being made on a ■ scale out'of all pi'oportion to that which contractors were content with before tho .v.war, .•
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Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 235, 28 June 1919, Page 8
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528BUILDING A HOUSE Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 235, 28 June 1919, Page 8
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