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[tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>]

Anyone who wanted to build low-cost houses in the 1950's and 1960's 
(damned few), had to copy the 16-step building process Long developed in 
Phoenix---and the Critical Path Method published in builder's magazines 
during the same period.  Process Thinking - Critical Path Method (aka 
PERT Charts)  > <http://www.robertluttman.com/Week4/page5.htm>

And, with cheap ninety-day developed lots, plus onsite jigs, fixtures, 
the price of a house could be dropped drastically.  Not really doable 
today because it takes years, a lot of money and probably litigation to 
turn raw land into finished building oots with roads, water, sewage and 
electric---only profitable alternative is to recycle tax-foreclosed 
inner city areas---make them habitable and attractive to buyers, with 
neighborhood amenities they lacked to begin with..

Valley developer Long led building revolution
His model kick-started new process

Catherine Reagor Burrough and Glen Creno
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 21, 2004 12:00 AM

The man who in the 1950s launched the modern home-building industry in 
Phoenix, still works several days at his office in Maryvale, the suburb 
where he made his name.

John F. Long's office walls are lined with framed photographs of himself 
posing with movie stars and politicians of the day. These days the 
wide-lapel suits have been replace by khakis and a button-down oxford 
shirt. Seated at a large conference table, sipping his ever-present cup 
of coffee, the 84-year-old developer recently described how he changed 
the way homes are built in Phoenix.

At the end of World War II, Long left the Army and returned to Phoenix 
and his fiancee, Mary. Unable to find a home in their price range, and 
with just $350 in his pocket, Long decided to build his own house. 
Before the tiny brick home was complete, a couple offered him $8,500 for 
the house. He took the profit and started building more houses.

Frustrated by the disorganization of the home-construction business in 
the early 1950s, Long developed a 16-step system that cut costs and time 
and turned out 25 houses a day.

Long developed a few standard home designs and trained crews for each 
phase of construction using as many pre-fabricated and pre-cut materials 
as possible.

"No one was doing anything like it at the time," Long said.

Buying large parcels of open farmland, Long built whole subdivisions 
with homes for $10,000 or less, thousands lower than his competitors.

Long's Maryvale development became Phoenix's first affordable, 
tract-home suburb. Long built more than 20,000 homes there. During peak 
sales times, 5,000 people toured Maryvale. Former President Reagan, then 
a General Electric spokesman, came to promote the homes' GE appliances.

In 1958, a Pittsburgh banker named H.N. Nichols read an article about 
Long's low-priced homes in American Builder. He was outraged and wrote a 
letter to the magazine: "Now I'm not calling anyone a liar . . . but 
when you indicate to me that a 1,500-square-foot house can be built and 
sold, complete with lot, anywhere in the United States for the amount 
indicated, it just doesn't make sense."

Nichols asked for proof. The magazine sent an editor to Maryvale. Long 
remembers showing the man around and explaining how he built homes.

"Each crew had its job, did it and quickly moved on to the next home," 
Long said. "There was no reason to have an expensive carpenter on site 
the whole time, or go over blue prints at each house with each crew. 
What a waste."

The magazine published a story about Long's 16-step process. Builders 
from across the country came to Maryvale to see how it was done. By 
1961, Long was building 2,500 homes a year.

Long had learned the lower the price, the more homes he could sell. And 
the more he could build, the cheaper the process became. The Phoenix 
housing industry and a good part of the region's economy still relies on 
the same calculus.

Today there are probably about 35,000 Long homes across the Phoenix 
area. And he's still building. His latest project is a business park 
near the new Arizona Cardinals football stadium.


I think I was the first to go to a 28-day building cycle---to eliminate 
the cost of  a construction mortgage---the customer moved in on the 
twenty eighth or twenty ninth day and the permanent mortgage paid me 
before the bills for materials and some of the subcontractors became 
due.  If the building market became difficult, the construction mortgage 
saving by itself was a doable profit, and in a good market added to the 
bottom line.