Finally, there is a sentimental value in owning the better house
which can't be put in terms of money but is, nevertheless, real
in terms of personal satisfaction. Every man feels a certain
justifiable pride in his home if he knows that others admire it.
This exerts an unconscious influence on him and raises his sense
of self-respect. Besides, as a good citizen, a man should make his
home as attractive as possible, not simply in the way of doing his
share to improve his neighborhood, but as showing what he and his
family stand for before the community, the soundest and best things.
Taking it all in all, you can tell your clients that in building
a face brick house, they get more completely than in case of any
other material the structural values of permanence, fire-safety,
comfort and health, and the artistic value of beauty, out of
which follow a real economy and a genuine personal satisfaction.
What, then, are the facts about the real economy of a face brick
house? To begin with, we frankly admit and, in fact, assert that
such a house costs more than the less substantial frame or stucco
house,--as it ought, because it is worth more. It wears better,
it looks better, it sells and rents better. You can never get
something for nothing. You have to pay for it. But what we can show
from actual figures is that the face brick house at the start costs
only a little more than the frame or stucco house and in the end,
when all the bills are paid, costs much less. It is a question of
initial and final cost. Let us first look at the initial cost.