Housebased

Housebased is a neologism used to describe practices, systems, or phenomena that are centered on or originate from a single household. It implies that the household acts as a unit of organization, production, or service delivery, rather than a larger institution or centralized facility. The term has appeared in discussions about domestic economies, remote work, and data privacy, and is often contrasted with outsourced, centralized, or cloud-based models.

In economics and sociology, housebased production or care refers to labor and services carried out within the home by family members or resident workers. This can include crafts and cottage industries, informal caregiving, and digital labor performed from a residence. In information technology, a housebased approach may describe data storage and processing that stays inside a home network, leveraging local devices and private networks to reduce reliance on external servers.

Critics note that the concept can obscure the social and gendered realities of who performs household work, and that it may oversimplify complex supply chains by focusing on the household as the primary unit. Proponents argue that a housebased perspective highlights resilience, privacy, and localized economies, especially in contexts such as remote work and home-based services.

See also: domestic economy, household labor, gig economy, remote work, privacy by design.