CitizenK9
1246
43
5
Apr 10, 2026 4:27 PM
CitizenK9
1246
43
5
squirreltactics
Sears was a mail order catalog back then. Still don't understand how they fumbled Amazon (which sells small houses by mail BTW).
FredGarvinMaleProstitute
they still do https://lindal.com/
cosinewave
Sears and others offered pre-cut homes from the 1880s into the 1940s. They were often very attractive houses made of high-quality materials. There are many Sears houses in my town and most have held up very well over the years.
eldermae
Damn straight
SomeDetroitGuy
They literally do sell house kits like the old Sears ones now. Here's a company that does it: https://www.shelter-kit.com/
evilspock
Semi-kinda? Yes in theory, no in practice.
The issue today is liability and compliance.
100 years ago, you could just build a house in many places. Boom. Done. And if it was shit and lit on fire, that was on you.
But - today we have electricity and earthquake standards and zoning laws and mandatory inspections, and they are all different depending on where you are. The single set of plans you could sell to anyone isn't a thing anymore.
Clockworkdancerobot
We should selectively densify areas that need it instead. Unfortunately single family homes use more taxes than they bring in. It's a recipe for sprawl and it creates cost bomb later on. We've been doing that for decades. ANd many towns and cities are going bankrupt because of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Nw6qyyrTeI Suburbia is subsidized
Clockworkdancerobot
Some areas cost more for water, light, power, street, etc. The suburbs are cost negative and the replacement costs far outweigh the property taxes taken in. Sure have this housing, but we need to offer more choices in housing and balance the costs. You expand these cost negative housing becuse that just gives you the initial builder fees and a low tax that doesn't cover the replacement costs. Eventually you can't sprawl your way out of huge tax bills.
marthafarquar
Fun Fact : You can usually tell a Sears kit house because each type of nail was numbered according to the construction plan.
cosinewave
Those are window markers. They were used to number the storm windows and corresponding screens for a given window opening. This was done because even if the openings were of the same general dimensions, only one window would truly fit.
ClutterMonkey
Shoot, i’d buy that today.
newPoster
$540,000 plus shipping and handling.
WigsDannyboy
but would you build it too?
mudgula
Stumbled on this article the other day. A housing nonprofit called Partners For Livable Omaha and the University of Nebraska are trying to figure this out rn.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91520148/omaha-tiny-houses-reimagine-starter-home
androgenoide
Of course they assumed you knew how to swing a hammer...
cosinewave
The typical build was a developer buying the house kits and having them built on speculation or to order. In other cases, consumers would order the kits and pay contractors to build them. It was pretty rare for consumers to build the house themselves but it did happen.
SwissScars
Have IKEA got that far yet?
PeterTried
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/323-the-house-that-came-in-the-mail/
relsky
They COULD. But why would they? Think of the shareholders you selfish bastard.
SomeDetroitGuy
What a bizarre comment. They could - and they do - in order to make money. They make money for the shareholders. So weird that you'd think that "Selling a product for money" somehow is something a company wouldn't do.
relsky
Meh, the intended sarcasm missed and the logic in my brain was too much of a leap. Sorry. More and more companies are making land and homes an investment strategy that's to be kept away from average people. So they aren't going to offer kit homes that make it easier to own a home, instead they're going to build garbage that they can rent.
BestUsernameICouldThinkOf
Somehow I doubt it'd be that easy to mass produce kits that meet modern building codes.
meme2zombie
They still do it here and we have stricter codes than anywhere in the US that isn't an earthquake zone.
Clockworkdancerobot
And you'd have to spend a shitload more to put roads, power, light, water, etc to all that sprawled housing. it would be much better to bring back medium density housing and un-sprawl. The replacement costs alone for this sprawl would bankrupt a city and you wonder why you have huge tax bills and predatory fines from your city and eventually go bankrupt.
thegoodowl
Look at that porch
WillLickNudibranchsForBUzz
You mean d*ck, right?
kickahippie
My first house was a Sears home, bought out of the 1912 sears catalog. Shipped to the rain station in town, finished in 1914. 3/4" douglas fir siding, 3/4" douglas fir floors. Front porch, window bench in the dining room. Even after 110 years it was in excellent shape. Not quite as old as the 1853 row home we live in now, but was a very cute practical house.
PeterTried
The layout would be different now, with more space for bathroom and toilet. Also, modern central heating would change the setup of rooms.
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/323-the-house-that-came-in-the-mail/
kickahippie
Oh for sure, I'm pretty sure there was no indoor plumbing when it was built judging by the way they had knocked a whole in the foundation wall to run water/sewer lines. They had remodeled the bathroom & kitchen some time in the 50-60's, just in time to put in the pink bathroom set, but also wire the lights all wrong. White and black wires taped together, lights in series, took me a whole weekend of crawling around under the house to get the wiring fixed
PeterTried
The podcast I linked is really interesting to that point. In a city where the biggest employer went belly up just before the remodeling craze the Sears homes were frozen in time. I
Kinetic342
It can be and easily is at Lowe’s or Home Depot or elsewhere, they’ll deliver it all right to your site. But can you build it? Electrical, plumbing, HVAC?
Eyeetsass
Nothing about hvac plumbing or electrical is difficult if you do it during the build, and all the components are pre adjusted for the specific design. You can kit a modern house as easy as ikea furniture. If you can follow a recipe you can build a kit home.
Kinetic342
Absolutely! It’s really not that difficult. But it’s very time consuming and requires the right tools.
Eyeetsass
And you have to live somewhere while you build your house.