I have been playing since day 1 and have nowhere near enough wood to build the first shack yet. I really HOPE that we do NOT have to build each type of house in order from shack to full house, otherwise it will take FOREVER to gather that many pieces of wood!

May I suggest 2 ways to build: either save up and build the house you want directly, or work your way up by adding to an existing house. The addition SHOULD require a reasonable amount of extra material, but not more than double what it would have cost to build it directly.