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The shortest simple explanation IMO is: there is no standard fit or small set of standards fits. Families have different needs, size, ideas, money. Ground wher
by kkfx 4y ago
The shortest simple explanation IMO is: there is no standard fit or small set of standards fits.
Families have different needs, size, ideas, money. Ground where you build a hose and neighborhood are different, local climate is different. The same dress works mostly on anyone because while we have different taste we have almost the same shape and size (a small set of). A car works almost everywhere in the world for similar reasons, a small set of them suffice to match most needs and desires. Homes does not match at all.
If you are in a not so hot environment with nice weather most of the year you likely want open air spaces, but if the temperature is nice but also rain is a bit frequent you might like open air COVERED spaces, perhaps instead of grass you prefer something that takes less humidity. If the climate is hot you prefer indoor places and direct Sun exposure minimization tricks, BUT it the hot climate have also a big circadian Δt like many continental places/deserts you need also some kind of insulation and a big mass to absorb heat during the day and give back at night. On contrary if you are in a secondary home you might like the little mass as possible to heat/cool quickly. If you are in a moderate cold climate big glass walls are very nice both to be inside like you are outside but heat them home with the Sun... On colder climate there is too little Sun so better reduce thermal dispersion, so little windows or even no windows at all is better. If .... and that's JUST for the climate, at a veeeery high level overview.
Also there is another important part: some countries have much wood and do most part of the houses in wood, there some "standards" fit for scale arrive at the level of semi-finished products like panels, beams etc other countries have industrial capacity and less wood so prefer concrete that demand far less design and precision. Again less options for economy of scale.
The real scale that do not want to happen at scale is flexibility. In the past we have had MANY different machines/tools per different products. Then CNCs came to life and a whole industry of semi-finished products easy to combine like lego bricks rise. We try now (so far with little scale success) to do even better 3D printing, to in theory get better flexibility on the same tech and reduce waste. With such revolutions "artisanal" products can be produced within industry scales setups. And that's is the real revolution "almost there" but not there, not only in construction.
- galdosdi 4y ago> Families have different needs, size, ideas, money Lol no. Most people will take what is available that they can afford, or at least pick what they most like from what is available (you have to live somewhere!) The share of people who can afford to be very picky to the point of ordering a custom build or paying for a comparable existing home is small. And even if people demand it, it's hard for developers to build very unusual homes because they won't retain their value as well (and thus won't sell for as high a value initially) since the first owner may well like it but may have a hard time finding someone else who does. As a result people end up even guiding themselves partly from "mainstream" tastes when renovating their own homes, even if they genuinely do not like them, in order to ensure the renovation increases rather then decreases the home value. Elasticity of demand is really low because everyone wants somewhere to live that's better than the default alternative, living in a cardboard box (or these days, maybe a car) If the entire supply was shacks everyone would get one. If the entire supply was mansions, everyone would get one too (or stay homeless if they couldn't afford it) That was a small nitpick to be fair. Sites and local conditions are all so so different, and that's the real cause, as you explain very well.
- bluGill 4y agoPeople do not want their house to look identical to their neighbor's. However ultimately we all have very common needs. Thus nearly every house will have a garage in front, there is is no way to get around the requirement that your house has this feature (at least none you control - good public transport in a mixed use neighborhood would do, but that isn't happening for complex reasons) Likewise we all want a few bedrooms, and some living space, with a kitchen and bathrooms. Further we all need to have flat walls (round rooms look cool but you can't really use them), and corners really should define the room edge. There just isn't much room to have significant differences in houses. However cosmetic things are easy to change, and exact layouts can be changed a lot in ways that really not not very significant.