The majority of houses were clad with wood panelling. Since the materials suppliers sometimes only had one type of external panelling or window in stock, the houses often ended up looking different from the blueprints. There was in any case little choice of cladding for walls and ceilings. Only a minority were able to make personal choices, so how the houses ended up was in many cases subject to chance.
Two-thirds of the private homes were constructed from blueprints by the Norwegian Housing Directorate or the district architects. One-third were constructed according to specific drawings taking into account the requirements of individual families. Architects were meant to collaborate with contractors, amongst other things on the placement of entrances and windows. Weather conditions had to be taken into consideration. Not everyone asked the architect for permission to make changes to the blueprints.
The war reparations did not generally cover all the expenses, and the Norwegian State Housing Bank (later the Housing Bank) was therefore established in order to give people advantageous loans. Many got new homes of a higher standard than they had had before the war. Some people were nevertheless anxious about being tied to mortgages, and decided to build houses themselves within the reparation budget – often on the foundations of the old property. These houses were often of a poorer standard than their predecessors. It took ten years for the new housing stock to reach the pre-war level.
In towns and populated areas, houses were built in rows with the roof ridges all facing the same way, and with the same distance from the street. The new housing developments were rather uniform in character, but the use of vivid colours injected some variation.
The reconstruction was to a great extent a break with the old traditions in craft and construction. The varied building pattern which had characterised the region before the war had more or less disappeared. Social and ethnic demarcation became less obvious.