Your New House: The Alert Consumer's Guide to Buying and Building a Quality Home

I am an architect and a former building inspector. Over the past few years I have given copies of this book to friends and relatives as they embark on their homebuilding adventure. This book says it like it is and it does not gloss over or romanticize the home building process. (Yes, its the American Dream, your castle - but is it built on a swamp or will it blow down in the first wind storm? It is also probably your most valuable asset. So how do you keep the dream from becoming a nightmare? Read this book!) You will learn who all the key parties are, their interests and biases. You learn how to keep control of the project (hey, its your money!)The humor keeps you reading (and functions as comic relief on those subjects that would drive an uniformed consumer to tears or suicide). The authors have lived the nightmare and allow the reader to learn from their mistakes. This book is a minor investment realtive to the cost of a new house - you owe it to yourself to buy it and read it before you ever visit a model home, hire an architect, or sit down with a home builder!

I am a young architect in the Southwest (Phoenix) where homebuilding is booming. I also just bought my first home. Part of my job as an architect is to perform construction inspection. I have seen some amazing things done to buildings / and homes that never would have been caught if myself or another keen eyed inspector had noticed. This book perfectly defines the roles of all parties involved in home buying & construction. And this book removed some of my fears of being a first-time home buyer.

I am a researcher by nature and looked high and low for what ending up being this book. It is, by far, the best to be found anywhere. Armed with the hints and checklists this book provides gives you confidence in a very intimidating process. You'll read things that point out areas you never would have considered...but are extremly important.

As a builder/designer in Cincinnati, Ohio, I have learned to appreciate an educated buyer. This book is an excellent reference for anyone building a new home. Share it with your builder, and enjoy your new home building experience instead of dreading it.

This book was a great resource while my husband and I were building our home. Our relationship with our builder was great, and it was mostly because the builder was impressed with how much we "knew" about building! Really, we were just asking the questions that Denise and Alan Fields said to ask in this book. The "things to watch out for" and potential money pit warnings were just what we needed to go into our house building a little less scared and a LOT more knowledgeable. We bought this book as we were starting the design process, and wished we had bought it sooner! A must have!