The building of semis in the 1930s for sale to the lower paid was by its nature a speculative business activity. But the speculative approach to building houses for sale to the working classes, which made home ownership a widespread possibility, had a dynamic of its own that placed constraints on the type of house built and the manner in which it was constructed and finished. However, because profits and egos were at risk, it also produced the means by which these constraints were overcome. The speculative building contractors were generally run by the founder of the company, and this leadership quality of the speculative builders played an important role in the recovery of the housing market. ‘The element of leadership is unmistakable; and certainly the industry is such that it radiates its stimulus in an exceptional degree'(43).
There were very few large building contractors in the 1920s who specialised in building houses for owner-occupiers. However, large numbers sprang up in the 1930s but they directly employed very few men. The developer would attempt to limit his fixed overheads by having a small staff dealing with most matters from a site hut. Local lawyers and accountants were employed to carry out the legal and financial work required.Plant and equipment could be hired to reduce capital cost. Board of Trade statistics show that the capital employed per worker in the construction industry was actually reduced in the period 1924 to 1935 from £71.7s to £63.2s as against £235 and £201 for all manufacturing industries.
The core of the operation revolved around three huts on site. One was for the general foreman and was the main site office for controlling and ordering materials and employing and paying labour. It also stored all the plans and records relating to the site. A further hut was used for other trades foremen and sub-contractors, while the third hut was for the men’s mess room and for their personal stores. It was also common practice to use one of the finished houses as an alternative to the general foreman’s office and as the base for a salesman. The building industry has always been, and is still today, made up of large numbers of subcontractors. In the 1930s these were used by the speculative builder in a manner not seen before. The majority of the development work was put out to tender or done on piece-work, leaving the developers/builders as a co-ordinator, supervisor and provider of capital, largely borrowed. It was necessary for him to have jobbing tradesmen to finish off if necessary where damage had been caused by other trades, but the numbers employed in this capacity were very small.
(43) H. Bellman, Capital Confidence and the Community (Cambridge, 1938), p. 9.