How to Plan, Contract, and Build Your Own Home

This book gives excellent strategic advice. It is not a tactical manual on how to build a house with your own hands, but rather informs a buyer on how to get the job done and which decisions are critical (e.g. site selection, architecture design selection, and builder selection). If you want to learn how to install drywall, then this is not the book for you. If you want to get a general idea of how it is done, but want to learn more about specifications from an owner's perspective, then this is the book for you. Some of the best advice in the book is really in the chapters on builders (how to select them, and how to work with them). This 'soft sceince' is the critical knowledge that I needed to build my own home that I would not have obtained otherwise. The sample specifications list using a HUD form proved to be invaluable to me. I didn't need an architect after that.

I have a slight problem with the title of this book. Will it enable you to build your own home? Yes, if by build your own home you mean hiring carpenters, plumbers, electricians and the like. But no if you mean grabbing a hammer, pipe wrench and a roll of wire. This book is a general introduction to the concept of building a house. Here's what to think of when you are planning a house. Here are some of the basic concepts of plumbing. Think about wiring like this. It's a general introduction to nearly every aspect of building a house from footers to roofing. Could you use this book to act as your own contractor. Probably if you study it really carefully, have some experience yourself or someone you trust to spend a lot of time talking to you. The orientation of the book is for you to really get a contractor. But by reading the book, you know a lot more than most people, you'll save a lot of time, and you'll understand the jargon that they use to describe parts of the house.

This book is very helpful for you to work with and speak the language of your contractor. It is not designed for you to be your own contractor, but to work with one that you select. In Part II "How to Build It", the book shows how a house is put together. If you never lift a hammer throughout the entire construction process, it still pays to know how a house can and should be put together. The difference between mediocre and excellent construction involves a ridiculously small materials cost. Knowing construction methods and materials will also assist you in your dealings with whichever contractor you choose.

This is an excellent book with a lot of great advice. The part of the title that says "build your own home" is misleading -- it does not mean it shows YOU how to build your home, it means it in the general sense of whether people will buy a pre-owned or build-your-own-home. I was fine with that because that is exactly what I was looking for.I spend a half hour poring over a wide selection of similar books. This one looked best. I spent another ten minutes on it before selecting it as the best. I was looking for specific tidbits that I know that I would give other home builders. After reading the book, I was even more impressed. There is a tremendous amount of good advice in an easy-to-read format. Highly recommended.

I found this book to be great! It gave me alot to consider that I had not even thought about. It you are planning to build a home this is a great book. It starts out giving you advice on what to look for in your floor plan then walks you thru the complete building process. I was hoping for a little more advice on how to go about being your own contractor but the book did not promis that. This book will be by my side for a while.