The Owner-Builder Book: How You Can Save More than $100,000 in the Construction of Your Custom Home, Third Edition - Softcover

Smith, Mark A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0966142888 ISBN 13: 9780966142884

Publisher: Consensus Group Inc, 2002

Synopsis

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 1,150 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

About this title

About the Author

Mark Smith
Email: mark@OwnerBuilderBook.com

Mr. Smith is President of The Consensus Group, an independent publishing firm. He is author of The Owner-Builder Book: How You Can Save More Than $100,000 In The Construction of Your Custom Home (third edition). Along with his wife Elaine, Smith managed the construction of the couple's Provo, Utah home at a savings of nearly $150,000 in 1997. Formerly the Vice President of a commercial construction firm in Columbus, Ohio, Mr. Smith had no previous residential construction experience before building the Provo home. His book combines professional management and commercial planning techniques with home management ideas to effect major construction savings for even the inexperienced homeowner.

Smith is a 1977 graduate of the Harvard University Graduate School of Business.

Elaine Smith
Email: elaine@OwnerBuilderBook.com

Elaine Smith is a retired public educator with over 30 years experience in the Provo City School system. She has taught on every level in the public schools and served as Chairman of the Social Studies Department at Provo High School. She is a former school librarian and Media Specialist, holding a BYU Master's degree in Library Science. Serving as co-author of The Owner-Builder Book, she was an equal partner in the 1997 construction of the couple's Provo, Utah Riverbottoms home.

From the Inside Flap

Letter to the Reader

I had no idea I could build a house.

I didn't know the first thing about carpentry, or cement work, or any of the trades; I had no tools; and I certainly didn't have enough money to build the kind of place I knew I wanted.

Yet here I sit in the nicest office I've ever had in the nicest home we've ever owned enjoying every comfort and a breathtaking view of the mighty Wasatch mountains.

Elaine and I built this place. We truly love it. Its a gorgeous house that has everything we want in it and works very well. It's a great comfort because we can manage the mortgage payment and because we go to sleep knowing that we have more equity in it than we owe.

I never thought we could do this because people assume you can't. And the thought that you could do it far less expensively than a general contractor really causes resistance. People told us 'no' all the time.

We decided to write a book that would tell you 'yes'.

Mark

Edition details

• Publisher: Consensus Group Inc
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0966142888
• ISBN 13: 9780966142884
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 288