In the early 1900s, demand for housing soared as thousands came to southeast Michigan for jobs in the growing automobile industry. Kit homes offered an innovative response to that need, with manufacturers shipping complete house materials, from precut lumber to doorknobs and paint. Friends, family, and paid skilled tradesmen assembled these thousands of parts on prepared foundations by following an instruction manual, producing well-designed, high-quality housing at low cost. In Sylvan Lake, kit homes were built from the 1920s until the 1940s, and more than 30 of these houses still stand. Sears, Roebuck and Co. sold 450 ready-to-assemble house models ranging from mansions to bungalows.