"L. E. Modesitt - A House By Any Other Name" - читать интересную книгу автора (Modesitt L E)

George grinned, partly in relief.

"It's a roundabout way, but I'd like to tell you how I got started in this business. I meant it when I said I
was a carpenter with a degree. I broke into the Union when they started the Philadelphia plan here. After
the plan flopped, I decided to stay in the building business. I got the degree at night. Went from framer to
framing contractor to builder. After the experience with the Philadelphia plan, I went non Union all the
way. For obvious reasons. The Union bigots didn't want me--not on my terms. And later, I didn't want
them.

"I could build a better, cheaper house without all their rules. Since there are a bunch of non white builders
around they couldn't make it too hard on any one of us."

Tod Houseman forced a smile. . "It's still harder than hell not to be bitter. I keep telling myself that
bitterness doesn't help."

"You were going to say how all this got started," interjected George.

"Right. I used to build houses in the old style. One day I was going over my cost sheets. The cheapest
part of building the house was the frame and the foundation. The two most expensive items are labor and
lumber. Labor for plumbing, dry walling, electrical and heating installations, tile, trimming... you get the
picture."

"Hm m m," commented George.

"So I thought, why not do a whole house at the framing stage, and use something besides lumber. And
that's what I'm doing." Houseman gave an easy smile.

"The idea sounds great. But how do you make your profits? A lot of builders have tried the pre fab route
and lost their shirts." George wanted a Coke.

"The product is simple. I'll start with that. I work a modular room system. The prefinished rooms are
delivered to the site. Then we bolt them together, stick on our precast roof and, siding and we're.
finished." His smile turned into a grin. "It's working pretty well."
"Hold on. Where do you get these rooms, and roofs, and uh... siding? You have a factory?"

"Good a term as any. Actually a fat airbubble, portable, with one giant loading airlock. I have three semis
with fold down sides that hold the epoxy casting machinery. I drive to the area I'm developing, set up the
semis, blow up my balloon, and go to work."

George was lost. He tried again.

"But you must have huge costs. All the molds, and the plumbing and the wiring..."

"We got that figured out early. Houses have basically only three kinds of rooms. Big ones, middle sized
ones, and little ones with plumbing. We have two sizes of each. The living room can be a dining room, or
a family room, or a master bedroom, or a double garage. The pullman kitchen can be a bathroom, a
laundry room, or a storage room. We mix and match to suit your budget and your taste." He gave a
toothy grin.