By the 1880s many businesses had begun to aggregate and sell various building components, such as doors, windows, moldings, hardware, etc. The Radford Architectural Company, Harris Brothers, and Sears, Roebuck initially entered the housing business selling building materials and later offered house plans. By the turn of the century the practice of selling plans and specifications had merged with selling construction components, and the resulting companies, including Sears and Montgomery Ward's, shipped the complete house kit, a natural extension of their mail-order businesses. The customer had the option to buy a "ready-cut" kit from Sears, Aladdin or Gordon-Van Tyne: all construction materials were pre-measured, fitted and precisely counted. This option was cheaper to build, requiring less-skilled labor and fewer hours, but allowed for no alterations in the plans. The Gordon-Van Tine brochure proclaims: "...you can build one of these homes yourself or with a handy-man in your spare time." The kit houses were a very popular and successful way to meet the housing demands of the United States population that had increased by nearly 50% in the period 1890-1910.
- "The Romeo" and "The Marsden". Aladdin Houses: "Built in a Day." Bay City, MI: North American Construction Company, 1914.
- Modern Homes No. 104 and 109. Our Book of Modern Homes. Chicago: Sears, Roebuck & Co., [1907].
- House Designs No. 56 and No. 127. A Book of Plans. Chicago: Harris Brothers Co., 1914-15 [1 of 3].
- House Designs No. 56 and No. 127. A Book of Plans. Chicago: Harris Brothers Co., 1914-15 [2 of 3].
- House Designs No. 56 and No. 127. A Book of Plans. Chicago: Harris Brothers Co., 1914-15 [3 of 3].
- "Compact, Convenient Bungalow Home." Gordon-Van Tine Ready-Cut Bungalows. Davenport, IA: Gordon-Van Tine Co., c.1918.
- Book of Homes. Chicago: Montgomery Ward & Co., [1917].