Product Description

The first comprehensive guide of its kind, Building an Affordable House is for homeowners and building contractors who want to incorporate proven cost-saving techniques into their projects. Written by a contractor who has been nationally recognized for his innovative approach to cost control, this book shows readers how to generate significant savings on major projects such as building a new home or adding on to an existing one.

The first section provides an economical approach to planning projects, while the second reveals the quality-conscious, cost-cutting strategies the author has uncovered through direct construction experience and extensive consultation with industry experts. The third section covers finish details from drywall to flooring, with emphasis on saving money without compromising quality or distinctive results. Handy features include floor plans, resource listings, and project management tools.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29266 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-01
• Released on: 2005-02-01
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Review
"An insider's view of the construction biz with a ton of anecdotes that will make you smarter and save money." -- Log Home Living

"One of the most comprehensive and thorough guides of its kind." -- ToolBase News

Customer Reviews

Chock full of good ideas
This book has snappy writing and good ideas, but seems to suffer from "magazine-frenzy-layout." By that, I mean there is at least one color picture per page (even gratuitous ones), stylish diagrams, pull-quotes, and sidebars. But sometimes this is just distracting. Some of the ideas are not explained or pursued, which leads me to suspect that portion of the text was lifted as-is from a magazine article. The book is only 200 pages (light-weight pages considering so many extraneous pictures.)

Sorry for so much griping, but I have come to expect more from Taunton Press, and it is sad to see their quality slipping.
HAVING SAID all that, I still liked the book and highly recommend it. It is refreshing to have such forward-thinking ideas presented all together in one place and compared. I appreciated especially the chapter on insulation for its side-by-side analysis of several alternatives to the "standard" fiberglass batts.



Examples:

p. 102 picture does not relate to caption

p. 107 caption identifies Vanguard PEX but Wirsbo is pictured

p. 117 caption mentions gas water heater flue, but an electric unit is pictured

p. 119 & 131 have identical pictures & captions.

Fresh information from experienced builder
This book is for builders, not homeowners, and assumes you already know know to build a house. It provides a foundation-to-finish review of the homebuilding process, showing where to save money at every step. Sometimes this means finding areas that are overbuilt--here you'll have to carefully consider which suggestions to use--but often it means using the latest technological advances, and this is what makes the book unique. It presents the most up-to-date products available from your local ready-mix supplier alongside the newest framing connectors or plumbing fixtures. The author explains things well, and his years of hands-on experience are evident throughout.

Not just for home owners!
I always take a risk buying construction books on line. Half the time they are written for the first timer, or home owner, and I get a bunch of info that I already know. This book, however, was labeled for the home owner type, but turned out to be on a builders level! I learned several new techniqes that I did not know, this has saved me untold thousands of dollars on my up coming projects. I would like to see a book from the same guy that would go into even more detail, like an advanced level of the same. The author had to do this first one to appeal to the most people, but I know he has tons of more detail he could put in a book twice as thick as this one. Still, this is a great help in building a good house cheep!