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Individual homes are classified as single-family dwellings. Apartments, condominiums, and townhouses are all referred to as multi-family dwellings.

Residential construction is typically funded by private individuals or developers for their own use or for sale. Builders of individual homes generally fall within one of three categories: they are custom builders constructing one-of-a-kind homes for specific customers on specific lots, they are single-family small-volume builders who build 25 or fewer homes a year, or they are single-family production builders who build more than 25 homes a year.

Although custom and small-volume builders account for approximately 70 to 80 percent of all residential builders, they produce only about 20 percent of the homes. On the other hand, production builders construct almost 80 percent of the homes in the United States.

Although some custom homes may be designed by an architect, many house plans are available from catalogs and plan books. In some cases, the contractor may provide the design for the customer. Engineering services are rarely required, and construction techniques are relatively simple. The project duration for a typical single-family home is in the three- to six-month range. Even high-end custom homes can be built in one year or less. Large production builders focus their efforts by creating communities of 50 to 400 houses in one location. These large projects will build out over several years.