The Complete Guide to Contracting Your Home: Amazon.ca: David McGuerty, Kent Lester: Books

Product Description

Book Description

Whether you want to take all the responsibility to contract your home or simply want to intelligently communicate with your homebuilder, "The Complete Guide to Contracting Your Home" can save you up to 30 percent or more on the cost of home construction by teaching you the practical day-to-day details of managing a construction project.

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First Sentence
A lot of people incorrectly believe that builders must know everything about building a house and must pass several tests to become licensed. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

17 Reviews

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

Average Customer Review

4.1 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Bad Ideas that Save You Pennies, Nov 10 2003

By

Jackson Landers (Charlottesville, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Contracting Your Home (Paperback)

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.

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5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent "how-to" book for a complete novice, April 26 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Contracting Your Home (Paperback)

We had never built a home and was very anxious in doing so. This complete guide allowed us to proceed without trepidation. The results were remarkable! The checklists were especially helpful.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Contracting Your Home- A Great Place to start, April 15 2002

By

art hickman (Hartselle, AL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Contracting Your Home (Paperback)

I found this book to be what I was looking for, unlike some other books, this one gives you facts and information that I could use. We are currently under construction and I use the check list, the time lines, and the sample sheets to help me stay organized. This is a meat and potatoes type of book for the person that is serious about building. I higly recommend this book.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The essentials.
The practical explaination of construction management and essential descriptions of the tasks, gave me confidence to try contracting out my own home. Read more

Published on May 9 2004 by anotherbuyer

1.0 out of 5 stars junk
i have done several remodels. i bought this book specifically for the contractor agreement.

this book is nothing but a series of lists and a few illustrated methods. Read more