Six-Day Wonder

Residents of La Fayette, Ind. (pop. 35,000) had never seen anything quite like it. One day they saw men unloading a truck at a weed-grown lot. Six days later a trim new two-bedroom house stood there, complete with shrubs and fresh-laid concrete walks. Most startling of all was the price: $5,750, including lot.

The men who finished this six-day wonder last week were La Fayette's Price brothers, James, 37, and George, 31, whose National Homes Corp. had been built up with the same speed as the house. Since they had opened a factory eight years ago, with money put up by relatives and friends, National Homes has become one of the biggest U.S. builders of prefabricated houses. It has turned out 13,500, including 7,500 wartime emergency units.

The war houses, President Jim Price admits, were nothing but "glorified chicken coops." At war's end the brothers decided a good house could be built from plywood at low prices. They standardized parts, designed them so they were easy to assemble, found ingenious ways to cut costs. They set up assembly lines which can now turn out 16 houses a day in two, three-and four-bedroom models, ranging in price from $7,100 to $10,000. With their own fleet of 35 trucks, they deliver houses right to the lot. Last year they completed 2,500, netted $330,000 on a $4,500,000 gross.

A month ago, when Federal Housing Administrator Raymond Foley cracked that "What America needs is a good $6,000 house," the Price brothers sat down to see if it could be done. They substituted an insulated concrete-slab floor for hardwood floors, eliminated the basement in favor of a utility room with a hot-water heater, put an oil heater in the living room and left closets doorless. They got the cost of the unassembled house down to $2,089 f-o.b. the plant. Added costs of erection, wiring, plumbing, etc., said Jim Price, should keep the house under $6,000 on a site costing no more than $650. (They have been limiting shipments to a 500-mile radius but now expect to ship anywhere.) Said Price: "You can buy it for as little as $300 down and $35 a month."

First day the new house was opened, 3,000 people filed through it, and 300 of them placed orders. Out-of-town orders poured in so fast that the brothers expect soon to be making 36 low-priced houses a day.

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