HC Deb 22 November 1949 vol 470 cc21-2W
Mr. Bossom

asked the Minister of Works how far his statistics show that the old approximate rule about housing work, that one building trade operative built one house in one year, still holds; and what is the approximation today.

Mr. Key:

The rule that one building trade operative built one house in one year seems to have been no more than a convenient and approximated method of expressing output on housing work in general, without reference to the type of house. Man-hours required to erect houses and flats vary with the type of building and the size. A crude calculation indicates that the figure might be about thirteen or fourteen months for houses of the standard being built today, but the change in standard is such as not to permit of a comparison being drawn with the earlier figure.

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