On the cover there is a builder. With a raised, sinewy forearm, he carefully applies cement to a mitered PVC fascia joint of a new porch. He steadies himself with his other hand, fingers pressed to the top of the frieze board. We can’t see his face, but (note the pencil tucked gracefully underneath his stained ball cap) he exudes a mixture of efficiency and aptitude.
The miters, by the way, are perfect. Impeccable, really. This is the type of quality workmanship that receives ample coverage in Fine Homebuilding (FHB), a bimonthly print magazine dedicated to the art of residential construction. But there’s more. Scan the image again and see how a Tuscan column is well proportioned in relation to the entablature above. A small Oatey can is balanced—artfully—atop the column’s capital.
The photo is even more remarkable for all the things it isn’t. It lacks the art-directed aura of shelter magazines you’d find by the checkout line in a certain health food chain. Nor is it anonymous like the stock imagery (tract home being framed up) found in most building trade p…