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Any man who is unable to learn to build a house is far behind the average in talent. Everybody used to build their own houses.

• harimau777 2y ago
  I think that may be due to differences in building standards between then and now. For example, fire was a much greater risk in previous generations.
  • potato3732842 2y ago
    It's not that buildings burn that much less readily today. It's that in the past they caught fire way more often. The plethora of wood stoves, lanterns for light, matches for smoking, etc, etc, had more to to with it than anything else.
• 8bitsrule 2y ago
  In the US here was a decades-long period when you could buy a set of books for next-to-nothing (from Audel; most are now public domain) that would fill you in on most details of most trades. You (along with friends and relatives) could do the parts you understood and farm out the rest. My dad (Navy electrician) built his own house with help from a Navy friend (carpenter). It sold a half-century later for 5 times what it cost him. The stucco exterior (whoever did it) lasted with zero fails in a climate that varied from -30F to +90F.