Product Description

This new edition of The Complete Guide to Contracting Your Home gives aspiring homeowners exactly the information they need to manage their own construction project. Full-color illustrations and photographs with revamped forms and checklists present the material much like a project manual used by professional contractors.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #372855 in Books
• Published on: 1997-09-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From Library Journal
A workbook in the fullest sense, this goes well beyond the crash courses in home building and words of encouragement of similar books. The first 10 chapters take a practical management approach to such things as financing, site selection, working with subcontractors, legal concerns, even how to cope with inevitable worry. The remaining chapters treat the stages of home building from excavation to landscaping. Included for each is a logical task sequence, a list of specifications to be used in subcontractor agreements, an inspection checklist, and a glossary of unique terms. The lengthy appendixes offer scores of adaptable forms as well as a critical path master project schedule. An exhaustive work, recommended for public libraries serving knowledgeable amateur builders. Bill Demo, Tompkins Cortland Community Coll., Dryden, N.Y.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Kent Lester got his start in construction by designing and building his own home at age 25. In recent years, he has build and remodeled homes professionally, sold accounting and CAD software to builders, and now provides consultation and we development services to businesses and construction firms. Dave McGuerty built his own custom home and is currently a data processing consultant in California.

Customer Reviews

I built my house with this book!
This book was the best bargain I made while building my house. It saved me thousands of dollars in materials savings, increased productivity, and unforeseen expenses. The schedule and checklists were particularly helpful. I knew exactly what to look for in workmanship at every stage of the project. I contracted the house myself and the subcontractors were amazed that I knew so much about construction. If they only knew...

I've read all the other contracting books. This one is the best hands down. The computer section and suppliers lists were really helpful too. I find it highly amusing that the only negative review of this book came from a professional contractor from Canada. He should be worried! With this book you will be empowered to contract your own home, or at least know what to expect when hiring someone else for the job.

Bad Ideas that Save You Pennies
This book starts out by suggesting that the reader obtain a pair of work boots and a flannel shirt and go hang out at construction sites so that you can act like a builder and impress your subs. Not to get construction experience, but to know when to spit and how to yell at people properly. What a joke.

The authors' approach to building is very much in that vein. Cut corners in foolish places and cover it all up with drywall later. He advocates things like single-headers on loadbearing walls and butting up 2 sections of joist sistered with plywood (!) over an open span - not on top of the beam. Whatever pocket change is saved by stunts like this is not worth it in light of the structural and code deficiencies you'd be left with.

If you have read a few other books about frame construction, you can spot the patently crazy ideas among the other bits of very sound advice in this book. But if you are starting from scratch, run away from it. You may not spot the difference between the smart and the stupid here. I get the impression that the authors are coming from the perspective of a penny-conscious builder of tract houses who is just trying to move as many Mchouses as fast as possible without much care for quality. Fine from a business point of view, but it is exactly the kind of mindset that most owner-builders are trying to avoid.

Rather than this book, I would suggest picking up 'Build Your Dream Home for Less,' by R. Dodge Woodson. Woodson's book gives you the perspective of a professional builder who has also built homes for himself and walks a fine line between the perspective of the businessman who needs to maintain a healthy margin and a homeowner who doesn't want ot get stuck with a lousy house. The two books are priced about the same and Woodson's is the one you won't regret.

Easy to understand terminology and illustrations
"The Complete Guide to Contracting Your Home" is written very straightforward and is well organized. It covers not only the building process, but the planning aspect, as well tips on dealing with local building authorities. There are Internet addresses for information, cost estimate forms, and much more. The project schedule lays out the sequence of events of the house building process. This book is well worth the price and I plan to buy some of the other books in the series.