Home construction is the process of constructing a house, generally referred to as a 'home' when giving consideration to the people who might now or someday reside there. Beginning with simple pre-historic shelters, home construction techniques have evolved to produce the vast multitude of living accommodations available today. Different levels of wealth and power have warranted various sizes, luxuries, and even defenses in a "home". Environmental considerations and cultural influences have created an immensely diverse collection of architectural styles. From castles to mud thatches, mansions to shanties, the 'home' has grown to represent a seemingly limitless array of structures.
The modern realty trade conventionally gives preference to 'home' as a warmer term in reference to the house structure; in the speculative context, terminology reverts back to 'house' as a unit of built residential property, as in the board game Monopoly. Note that a duplex is a housing structure which consists of two separate homes; a duplex amounts to a single building construction project, later marketed independently as two separate homes. The level of economic activity in the home-construction section is reported as housing starts, though this is contrarily denominated in terms of distinct habitation units, rather than distinct construction efforts. 'Housing' is also the chosen term in the related concepts of housing tenure, affordable housing, and housing unit (aka dwelling).
Four of the primary trades involved in home construction are carpenters, masons, electricians and plumbers, but there are many others as well. Modern home construction is regarded as a form of residential construction.