Four building rules from your grandfather that cost you money today

Yes, you can build a house in winter. A modern frame goes up in days, gets closed with house wrap and is heated from inside, so work carries on in cold weather. Modern foundations don't need to settle over winter either, a family house doesn't need 150 m², and a pre-designed kit home often needs no new architect.

A couple in their late forties walks into our office. They want the biggest model we have.

"This is a five-bedroom house," I say. "Do you need them all?"

"Maybe not. We'll find a use for them. But this is what we want."

"Why exactly this model?"

"My grandfather told me a proper house is at least 150 square metres."

I've heard some version of this many times. And here's the thing. Their grandfather was right. In his time.

Most of the rules people bring into my office come from someone they trust. A grandfather, a father, the uncle who built his own house decades ago. These rules weren't wrong. They were made for a world that doesn't exist anymore, and following them today quietly costs you time and money.

I don't say this to make fun of anybody's grandfather. Those men built houses with shovels and hand-mixed concrete, and many of those houses are still standing. They knew what they were doing. They just did it with the tools, the families and the shops of their time.

Here are the four I hear most often, why each one made sense back then, and what changed.

Does a family house need to be at least 150 m²?

No. For most families today, 150 m² (about 1,600 sq ft) is far more house than they need.

What grandfather said: a proper family house is at least 150 m².

Why it was true then: when your grandfather was a young man, three generations often lived under one roof. Families were bigger. Five, six, seven children was normal.

The house was also the storage. There was no supermarket down the road. When you managed to buy something, you bought it in bulk and kept it at home.

What changed: families are smaller, and grandparents rarely move in. You run out of potatoes, you jump in the car, and you're back with potatoes in 20 minutes. Nobody keeps that kind of stock at home anymore.

What it costs you now: your grandfather paid for all that room, but he paid for it for a reason. If you don't have his reasons, why pay for his rooms? Every square metre you don't need still has to be built, heated, maintained and paid off.

Ask yourself honestly: how many generations will live in this house? Do you keep more than a week or two of groceries at home?

So how much house do you need? I've written a whole method for that. [INTERNAL LINK: How big should your house really be?]

Does a new foundation need to settle over winter?

No. A modern foundation, built on compacted gravel, shouldn't settle at all. If it does, it was done wrong.

What grandfather said: build the foundation in summer and let it sit over winter, so it settles.

Why it was true then: a hundred years ago, there was no heavy equipment. I know how those foundations were made. You had a shovel. You dug a ditch, filled it with rocks, then sand, then poured water over it to wash the sand between the rocks.

Then you let it settle over the winter. If the frost moved the ground a little, it moved before the house was on top of it. In spring, you cast the concrete, mixed by hand. That was the process, and that's why foundations needed time.

What changed: today, heavy equipment removes all the soft soil. The hole is filled with gravel or crushed stone, that's compacted, and then the formwork goes up.

What it costs you now: if you build in stages months apart, that's extra money. Bring the builders in, send them away, bring them back again: every round trip costs you. Waiting isn't free anymore.

And it's not only the builders. Every month the site sits empty is another month of your plans, your financing and your life on hold.

Can you build a house in winter?

Yes. The frame goes up in a few days, gets wrapped, and is heated from inside, so work continues through the cold months.

What grandfather said: "I'd like to build this year, but it's already late. Permits take time, then it's winter, and you can't build in winter."

If your grandfather told you that, he was right. But you are not.

Why it was true then: back then, builders didn't have the clothing or the gear for working through a northern winter. A house went up slowly, piece by piece, out in the open.

What changed: these days, the structure goes up fast. It's literally a few days until it's covered with house wrap, and you have a closed envelope. Put heat blowers inside and follow the weather.

• Weather is decent, not freezing? Go outside and finish the roof.
• Weather turns bad? Go back inside and do the insulation and the interior walls.

If you build from scratch, winter is slower, because a lot of the manufacturing happens on site, and nobody wants to cut and fit parts in a blizzard. With a kit, that part happens indoors. We make ours in our production hall, so on site the build goes fast, snow or no snow.

What it costs you now: waiting for spring can mean losing half a year. That's half a year of rent, or of not living in your new house. Permits still take time. But waiting for permits in autumn doesn't have to turn into waiting for spring.

Do you need an architect for a kit home?

Not always. A kit home that was already designed by a professional architect doesn't need a new architect to design it again, unless your local law requires one to submit the permit papers.

What grandfather said: the first step of building a house is hiring an architect.

Why it was true then: every house was designed from zero. Somebody had to draw it.

What changed: factory-made houses come with the architect's work already done. Theoretically, yes, you need an architect. But our architect already did the job, and did it well. Our models are designed and planned by a professional architect, so you don't need to hire one to design them again.

That's where a lot of a project's time and money used to go: drawing, redrawing, and checking that everything fits together. With a pre-designed model, that work is already done and tested.

The one exception: if your local laws require an architect to sign and submit the permit papers, you'll still hire one for that part. Check with your local building authority early.

What architects and builders find once they try a kit

Some professionals look at factory-made kits with suspicion. They don't trust them yet.

But it's been our experience in many markets: once architects and builders try one, they come to like it a lot. They still do their job. They just don't have to work so hard on the parts that were already solved. For you, that means fewer surprises on site.

And the house is often better for it, because the decisions were made before. We're Nordic people. We're not very fast people over here. We take our time with these decisions, and that benefits you.

There's one more thing your grandfather never had: a house that has already been built many times. When you choose one of our models, everything has worked well on earlier builds. Or if something didn't, we fixed it, and yours will work.

Be curious about A different house

Dogmatic thinking is what kills efficiency in building.

If you push ideas that aren't good onto your contractors and the professionals working with you, they'll build them. They're paid professionals. They do what you say.

And in the end, you're the one responsible for the result. Not the builder. Not the government. You.

So be curious. Ask yourself one question: what if the house in my head isn't the right one for me?

Pick the one rule from this list you were planning around. Ask where it came from, and whether those reasons are still yours. If they are, keep it. If they aren't, you've just saved yourself time, money, or both.

FAQ

Does a family house need to be at least 150 m²?

No. The 150 m² (about 1,600 sq ft) rule comes from a time when three generations and five to seven children shared one house, and the house also stored food in bulk. A family of three today typically needs around 60 to 100 m² (650 to 1,075 sq ft), plus some room for comfort.

Does a new foundation need to settle over winter?

No. Foundations used to be dug by hand and left to settle over winter before the concrete was cast. Today, soft soil is removed by machine and replaced with compacted gravel, so a modern foundation shouldn't settle at all.

Can you build a house in winter?

Yes. A modern frame goes up in a few days, is closed with house wrap, and is heated from inside with heat blowers. Builders work on the roof on milder days and on insulation and interior walls when the weather is bad.

Do I need an architect for a kit home?

Not always. If the kit home was already designed by a professional architect, you don't need to hire one to design it again. You may still need one if your local law requires an architect to submit the permit application.