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ftlorin County Holds Line OnBuilding Costs

Despite spiraling prices of labor and materials, the actual cost of building a house in Marin ,County today is less than 8/o over what it would have cost 10 years ago.

E. Douglas Roberts, manag:er of the Marin Builders Exchange and a man who believes in getting the facts, has the signed bids to prove it.

Today's house is not the same as the house built in 1950; it's quite likely that it will contain many improvements which add to the cost. So for text purposes, Roberts decided to call for bids on an actual Marin dwelling built a decade ago.

In selecting a home suitable as a "comparison residence," consideration had to be given to the type of dwelling, availability of architectural plans, use of equivalent building materials, topography of the site and other factors which would make the comparison test a fair one.

The home selected was that of Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Douglass on Loma Avenue, Tiburon, a typical Marin dwelling of some 1,500 sq. ft., with three bedrooms, two baths and a 380 sq. ft. carport. It was built on a hillside view lot of approximately one-third of an acre, but the house site had been graded level, thereby ofrering for all practical pulposes a house on a concrete slab foundation on a level lot.

Plans for the home as originally submitted for bids in 1950 were obtained from architect Eugene E. Crawford of San Rafael and the original bids themselves were dug out of the files.

Some modifications of materials specifications had to be made to allow for changes and substitutions now in use (Aluminum sash, for example, which is more commonly used today in place of steel sash, but at no increase in cost).

In setting up the test, the Marin Builders Exchange could not foresee the outcome, but it was hoped that findings would establish that present-day home prices are considerably higher by reason of increased land costs.

But wage scales, with fringe benefits, in the construction crafts have also been hiked considerably over the past 10 years. The average increase in the four basic erafts-electricians, plumbers, carpenters and painters-has been hiked a thumping ?4 per cent.

In checking out the cost of materials, it was interesting to note that structural lumber is still about the same as it was in 1950; redwood rustic showed a small increase of about 8 per cent.

Other materials, such as sheetmetal, reinforcing steel and concrete, have shown respective increases ot SL/o,26Vo and,|tVc.

One fact did show up to bear out the thought that the price differential in lot values was considerably more. The orig:inal housesite was valued at $5,000: present value was authoritatively set at $18,000-a rousing 260 per cent increase since 1950.

Plans and specifications were submitted for bid to Larkins Construction Co., H. S. Meinberger and Son, and Charles Hendrickson, with the understanding that the low bidder would agree to build the same house on any level site in Marin County falling under jurisdiction of the county building inspection department, within 30 days.

The three original bids received in 1950 were: $24,252, $28,376 and $28,600.

Bids turned in for construction of the same house, 10 years later were: $25,954, $30,453 and $31,219. Lowest bid, which was submitted by Larkins Construction Co., was only a fraction over 7 per cent higher than the 1950 low bid. The comparative average of all three bids showed an increase of 7.8 per cent.

The test bore out the Exchange's contention that today's higher home prices are principally due to spiraling land values; in fact, the Exchange noted after reviewing the bids, builders have cut down on their own profits to help equalize the increase.

The Exchange also pointed out that home financing costs have g'one up in the last 10 years, and that the tastes of buyers for new architectural designs and improvements are resulting in more expensive houses.

Associofion Moves Ofiices

Headquarters of the Lumber Merchants Association of Northern California, formerly located at 24 California St. in San F rancisco, was moved to San Francisco's new Post-Van Ness Center building, 1255 Post Street, on F'ebruary 1. Association executive vice-president Jack Pomeroy, and LMA secretary supreme, Clare Zimmermarl may now be reached at the Association's new phone number-PRospect 1-1891.

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