Assembling House Kit

You can buy almost anything from a catalogue today. But did you know that you can buy a new house from a catalogue? And it could be a much better deal than you think.

The basic components are pre cut and marked in the manufacturer's factory. Then they are shipped to you with instructions for assembling by you or your contractor.

The cost of a kit house is about half that of a custom built home. One four bedroom, two bath kit house that was recently built in Minnesota carried a base price of $85,000. That did not include the cost of putting it together or the land.

Kits also let you put up a house faster than you could by hiring an architect and a contractor to design and build a house. And we are not talking here of a shack in the box. The materials are usually as good as or even better than those in a standard home.

You can order kits that are complete right down to the poles in your closets but most include only the materials to construct a weather tight house shell. That means the framing, lumber, roof, walls, exterior siding, windows and doors. You then pay a general contractor to buy and install everything you want to finish the house, such as the wallboard, wiring and plumbing. You can save as much as 10% to 15% on construction costs by acting as your own contractor. Then you would have to find the various subcontractors needed to finish the house, and you would monitor their work schedules. That, of course, takes a lot of your time.

Anyone can get a list of 215 kit makers by sending $1 and a stamped self addressed envelope to the Building Institute, 70 North Broadway, Nyack, New York 10960. Advertisements for kit homes also appear in housing and building trade magazines. The first step in buying a kit is to steep yourself in manufacturers' catalogues. When you see something you like, phones the company to find its local dealer. Check with your local Better Business Bureau or state consumer affairs office to see if any complaints have been filed against the company. Also ask the firm for names of local builders who have assembled its kits and for homeowners who have bought them. Interview them and visit their houses.

Once you know that you are dealing with a reliable company, you are ready to sit down with its representative to discuss the details of the house you want. Most buyers choose log houses. They are a far cry from Abe Lincoln's boyhood home, and they are sold by such firms as New England Log Homes (2301 State Street, Hamden, Connecticut 06518), Rocky Mountain Log Homes (3353 Highway 93 South, Hamilton, Montana 59840) and Southland Log Homes (P.O. Box 1668, Irma, South Carolina 29063). Many people work up their own designs. Of course, the more you depart from a standard plan, the more you will have to pay.