A Child Of Atom

Design Within Reach, which really isn't within reach of very many of us, has done it again. On the cover of their most recent catalog, and being pushed heavily on the front page of their website is their newest creation, the Kithaus. Kithaus is a return to the mail-order modular dwelling of yesteryear, when you used to be able to order entire houses from Sears and Roebuck and have the precut and preformed materials to build it delivered to your location. Kithaus will deliver everything you need to create the office space shown here, with a 9' x 13' floorspace, ready to be assembled and moved into.

So what does it cost? The standard model is $44,900. A fully furnished model is available for an additional $16,433 (it's currently on sale at 15% off!! SKWEE!). So you can have everything you see here for a mere $61,333. Now, to be fair they also offer a "baseline model" that doesn't include the louvered windows of the deck. How much is it? $29,500.

The thing is... I've seen it all before. In Ready Made Magazine. For years now they have offered the blueprints for their BYO Modular Dwelling. For $35. Granted, you'll have to cut (and purchase) your own lumber and provide your own furniture. Looking at the picture I count about 3 dozen 2x4s, a dozen or so sheets of ply... I'm going to estimate that I could build this room for $500. So with a little more sweat and elbow grease I save myself 99% off of the DWR Kithaus.

99%!!

Even if I bought the "baseline" model I'd still be saving 98% by buying the blueprints from Ready Made and the lumber myself.

How "within reach" can you possibly be? Median price for a house in Greenville, SC (where my mom currently lives) is $142,00. Just 3 Kithauses would get me a full-sized home in SC. Median for the whole country is $248,900, so just 5 and a half Kithauses. Or 535 BYO Modular Dwellings. Which seems more within reach to you?