How would you answer the question that Binyamin Applebaum asks in the New York Times, “Why Do We Still Build Houses Like We Did 125 Years Ago?” I think I would ask a question of my own: have you watched houses being built lately? And have you ever looked closely at a house built 125 years ago? We don’t build houses like we did 125 years ago. The construction methods, designs, and tools differ dramatically in all sorts of ways. Just to give one example 125 years ago here in the Chicago area practically all houses were wood frame houses (in Chicago those have been greatly restricted since the Great Fire).
The actual question he’s asking is why don’t we mass produce houses, building them in factories? The reason varies from place to place but a big reason is that unions have opposed such construction for as long as I can remember. Here in Illinois “modular homes” are theoretically legal but present practical problems because each locality may have different construction and zoning requirements. They’re even tougher to build in Missouri since manufacturers must, effectively, be licensed by the state and get state approval for their plans.
