Lower salaries would do the trick too! Jokes aside, I would like a list of reasons why people could own homes build out of grunt work 100 years ago but cant to

Lower salaries would do the trick too! Jokes aside, I would like a list of reasons why people could own homes build out of grunt work 100 years ago but cant today with all the truly marvelous technology. Besides choking in the red tape stuff like: wood is expensive if you don't plant trees. Long ago people planted the trees (where the house was to be build) when the baby was born.