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The Owner-Builder Book: How You Can Save More Than $100,000 in the Construction of Your Custom Home, 4th Edition | 
| Authors: Mark A. Smith, Elaine M. Smith
Publisher: Consensus Group; 4th edition (January 15, 2007)
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $13.57
You Save: $6.38 (32%)
Rating:  42 reviews
Sales Rank: 180685
Media: Paperback
Edition: 4
Pages: 274
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 1932272046
Dewey Decimal Number: 690
EAN: 9781932272048
ASIN: 1932272046
Publication Date: January 15, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The best available guide to saving money on a home construction project, The Owner-Builder Book shows you how to contract your new home, remodel, or addition at phenomenal savings. Contains a step-by-step description of the process, including how to find and hire good subcontractors, how to get a construction loan, and how to estimate costs and choose features for your project. Includes 85 planning steps and 100 new construction bargain strategies to save you thousands. Includes contracts, agreements, budget and schedule forms and worksheets. Super-index provides 1,500 search terms for total utility. Winner of the National Association of Home and Workshop Writers Silver Hammer Award for Books. "...16 easy to read chapters with lots of charts, lists and examples...More practical advice..." Nancy Cook-Senn, The Shawnee News-Star "...this is the book which will tell you how to design and build your own home just the way you want it. It also tells you how to save thousands of dollars in the process...You can also save up to 50% of the cost of a house by becoming an owner-builder...goes through the stages of how to plan, planning, how to buy, developing a network for purchasing your materials, how to get bids, what to look for in bids on different areas, how to supervise your sub contractors, etc...seems to leave very few, if any, stones unturned." Curtis Rivers, Vero Beach Press Journal "Assuming you have the same costs that a general contractor will have, you will save the profit (more than 10 percent average) and the overhead (two to three times the profit) paid to a general...The Owner-Builder Book discusses just how this can be done." Ask the Experts, Country's Best Log Homes "If you don't want to sorry, follow the process outlined by Mark Smith in his book, The Owner-Builder Book." Builders Showcase, Northwest Herald "...covers every aspect of the building process, including planning, scheduling, working with subcontractors, financing, building permits, etc....has, perhaps for the first time, demystified the home-building process for the layman. Consider this to be a textbook." Prince William Region Home Focus "...highlights techniques for materials shopping (what he calls "commando shopping") and planning your home room-by-room to maximize savings." Home & Real Estate Weekly, Daily Times-Call "This new book gives a step-by-step approach to building your own home and saving up to 50 percent on construction costs. Chapters show how to beat contractor pricing tactics, how to deal with paperwork (contracts, permits, and legal and insurance protection), how to manage home building project on a daily basis, and how to avoid common owner-builder mistakes." The Henry Herald "Great practical little book filled with tips to save money when building a home. If you want to take on the project yourself, it's good to know the tricks of the trade first. You'll learn to manage bureaucratic paperwork, how to get subs on your side, and even become privy to "commando" shopping techniques. The Smiths explain how to benefit from new tax laws and how to prepare yourself to get loan approval." Simple Living Quarterly "If you ever have thought of building your own home, The Owner-Builder Book is for you because it is a step-by-step guide for the amateur and covers all aspects of building a home." Robb Northrup, Kitchener-Waterloo Record "When it comes to building your dream home, sweat equity a.k.a. doing it yourself, can help economize. But you don't need to swing a hammer to nail substantial savings. In The Owner-Builder Book Mark Smith leads home-owners through a step-by-step guide of planning, scheduling and financing a custom built house." Michelle Mahfouri, American Press "The 16-chapter book takes [you] from putting a materials list together and putting out bids to subcontractors to shopping for bargains and close-outs on framing lumber, fixtures, concrete and appliances. It also discusses how to avoid first-time mistakes." Kansas City Star "...guides you through...building...and saving considerable dollars that will build [your] wealth without the [typical] risk..." Rocky Mountain News "What are the secrets to...save money on the construction of your home? This book tells all." Kansas City Daily News-Press
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| Customer Reviews: Read 37 more reviews...
 The best there is. August 28, 2008
Dana C. Larkin (eastern NC, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you are contracting your own house, this book is a must. Read it, and also go to the website. I read this book through a few times, and feel more confident as I start my owner-builder process.
THE GREATEST BOOK EVER!! July 12, 2008
Andrea8430 (dallas, texas)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
well, i've read so many how to books, i've read tips and traps, the idot's guide, and the dummy's guide. the owner builder book surpases them all!
it taught me so much about being my own contractor to build my house myself. i've had a lot of friends who custom built homes, and one thing i noticed about all of them is that the builder didn't really build. he just managed the building project but made $50,000 or more for his management!
this book broke down everything you need to know to begin this process. it especially focuses on the planning stage which is the most important stage in building a custom home.
if you are considering being an owner builder, this the book for you!
 Very useful if you're planning your first building project October 28, 2007
L. Sellers (Stanfield, NC)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I bought this book last year before I started my first building project and it was very useful. While I agree with some of the negative reviews that there are too many testimonials and some strange justifications discussed on why to build your own home, I think overall it's helpful.
Here are the things you can get from this book: a plan showing you how to get started, understanding the different steps and trades to build, understanding the planning time required, an idea of the commitment that is required, a structure to set-up your budget, tips to secure your bank loan and ideas for some custom home features to consider.
You will not get much information on the following: details on building techniques, detailed cost saving tips or useful price information.
Good book! Could do without the "optimistic fluff..." August 21, 2007
J. Wagner
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've just started in on this book, so my review may change after I've read the rest; but my initial opinion of this book is that while it contains a lot of useful information, it also contains information that is based on favorable chance events and optimism; these should be toned down or at least balanced with conservative planning. One instance shows how to "trade up" or "flip" houses to use the equity of the flipped house to get better properties at lower mortgage payments. This is an optimistic assumption, as is apparent in todays real estate market as of this review, there are a lot of home buyers who thought they could do this and are now stuck in expensive properties they don't want. Information presented like this reminds me of those "get rich" books. Many of the other reviewers have said the same thing: Too much junk information thrown in trying to make you feel good about the book and what you are doing. This space could have been eliminated, shrinking the book, or filled with more useful information.
Optimisim and "can do" spirit is definitley necessary to build your own home, by all accounts it is a very trying process. When using this book as an element in your DIY homebuilding planning, I'd follow the author's suggestions, plan like crazy, plan for the worst and hope for the best. The information in the book is very good. I'd still recommend it.
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