The above list of expenses should be frankly faced in the beginning, tabulated, and duly considered by every prospective owner of the small house. There are some architects who for fear of discouraging their clients from building will not sit down with them and show them a plain statement of the money they will have to invest, and when all of these minor items begin to pop up during the progress of the operations, the client begins to lose confidence, wonders where the next unexpected bill will come from, and blames the architect for having misrepresented conditions to him. Any prospective owner who has to be blind-folded to the costs which he must meet in order to muster up courage to build ought to be left alone, for he will do the architect no good, but considerable harm. Individuals who have their castles in the air so high that they cannot reduce their dreams to dollars and cents before they begin, ought never to build. These are the kind that start the cry that it always costs more to build than one ever figured on in the beginning. But coming back to the question of securing the building loan, it will be found that nearly all lenders will insist that the owner put his money in first. That is, he must meet the first payments to the builder himself, until he has put in all of his share. The rest will then be taken up by the financing institution, but always enough will be held back to assure sufficient funds for the completion of the house and the payment of all bills. The lender generally states at what periods of the construction money will be passed over, and this schedule is generally adopted as the one for the periodic payments to the builder. Of course the contractor must be consulted on the matter and his approval secured, but there will be little difficulty on this score, for he will recognize the power of the financing institution to dictate the dates of payment. As to the matter of contracting for the construction of the small house, there is little doubt that for so small a building the method of securing one general contractor to assume the responsibility of the whole work is the best. There are many who believe in employing day labor, and hiring the services of a supervising builder. The cost is itemized and the contractor adds a percentage as his share. This insures better-class work, but in practically all cases it is more expensive, and no assurance can be had of the final cost. When the plans are let out to various contractors for bids, there should be no obligation attached to them that the lowest bidder will secure the job. This is a protection, for the human element often enters into relations of this kind, and the lowest bidder may not be the most trustworthy personage, nor have the best reputation.