How to Plan, Contract, and Build Your Own Home, Fifth Edition: Green Edition (How to Plan, Contract & Build Your Own Home)

FIrst, it should be noted that the editorial review and back cover both note, "Know when you'll move in with a helpful calendar-style checklist" and "Select the right mortgage". Neither of those are covered, at least not in this 4th edition. I see the number of pages were reduced from 824 pages in the 3rd ed. to 791 in this edition. Part of the mystery may be that the index does have an entry that says, "moving in timeline, 783-803". Well, not only does it NOT have 803 pages, the index is on pages 775 - 791! Finally, the back cover also says "Evaluate doing it yourself vs. subcontracting". This my be presented in a round-about way, but it really goes right into using a builder - never presenting the "do-it-yourself" versus contractor analysis.With that said, the book DOES provide a lot of great information. Every part of the building process seems to be covered. The pros/cons of the various construction methods (such as foundation types, wall construction, etc.) is very useful.The bottom line is this is a very good book that I would recommend for anyone building a home, but just keep in mind things noted in the editorial info, back cover, etc. are missing. I can't believe the editorial staff at McGraw-Hill were so negligent in this matter, and it makes me wonder what other inconsistencies can be found throughout the book.

I was hope this would be a good basis for lessons. In short it wasn’t. Topics are a lil drawn out at the beginning. Too much thought into deciding what you want without really helping.

This book is great, it covers almost everything about building a house.But it is a little bit outdated, for example for the selecting contractor part. If the author could list a few websites that you can get your contractors that could be fairly helpful. Since nowadays, many contractors bit online for the projects. I guess, this would save a lot of time than asked real estate agents or go to material supplier to ask for contractors.Still, a great book to recommended.PS. I would like to build my own home. And this book give me a lot of confidence.

Lot of good information in here. The book was revised in 2005, so there is a lot that has changed, for example to have two phone lines if there will be someone using the internet. Having said that, it does raise questions that you should be asking to have a well constructed home.

The chapters on hiring a contractor are the most useful for me. This is something I am not good at. More books should deal with this.

REFERS ONLY TO CUSTOM BUILT (IS THEIR ANY OTHER KIND WHEN YOU ARE DOING IT YOURSELF) AND HIGH END HOMES!!!! NONSENSE!!! WHAT ABOUT THOSE OF US WHO ARE BUILDING IN RURAL AREAS?????? i ALSO FOUND THE INFORMATION MISLEADING SINCE TEXAS DOES NOT HAVE COUNTY LEVEL BUILDING PERMITS 9JUST STATE GUIDELINES) NOR INSPECTIONS EXCEPT FOR THE CITY/COUNTIES LIKE DALL OR TARRENT!!!! ANOTHER THING THERE ARE LOTS OF COUNTIES WITHOUT BUILDING DEPARTMENTS BUT YOU MUST FOLLOW STATE GUIDELINES AND MONTANA HAS A STATE ELECTRICAL INPECTOR'S OFFICE.

I took this book out of the library and liked it so I thought I would purchase a copy. What a great deal -- a hew one for $5 and shipping. I hope to build a custom house in the next two years so I hope this book will give me some excellent information.

Good guide. Should add energy alternative section

good product and quality

informative

This is the first book I have read on the subject since we decided we want to build our own house and it did not teach me much I did not know already. I am a woman and a health care worker, whose only experience with building so far has been overseeing the renovation of my house. While the author does introduce building materials and techniques, he does not offer a builder's perspective on their pros and cons. But I did like that he includes green building materials and techniques, in addition to conventional materials.