There is little doubt that one of the biggest difficulties likely to be encountered in rebuilding the Gulf Coast will be the lack of availability of construction labor. Many people may choose to buy manufactured or modular homes rather than building conventionally, but the manufacturers cannot immediately and fully meet the enormous need, either. This appears, at first glance, to be nothing but bad news. But there is a clear silver lining to the problem: thousands of people are likely to make the decision at some point to re-build their houses themselves rather than waiting to hire someone else to do it. Why is this good news? Remember the first characteristic of a living tradition? How that it grows out of a situation where everyone understands basic place- and building-making principles? Thousands of people building their own houses probably will do more to create a living Gulf Coast building tradition than any other single event we have seen in our lifetimes.