Everything You Need to Know About Building the Custom Home: How to Be Your Own General Contractor

This book helps the reader save a great deal of money by demonstrating how to manage the project and act as one's own contractor.

The focus of this book is on the legal and financial nuts and bolts of homebuilding such as securing a loan, negotiating with bankers and tradespeople, reviewing contracts, and gauging insurance needs. In these areas, this guide is detailed to a fault, listing--in one instance--the 50 possible title defects against which title insurance provides protection. Briefer coverage is afforded the construction process, although the book does provide a useful review and checklist of the stages of construction. Absent is any description of the actual work involved at each stage or tips on evaluating such work. While this is a worthy addition to larger building or real estate collections, smaller libraries may want something more inclusive like Dave McGuerty and Kent Lester's The Complete Guide to Contracting Your Home ( LJ 9/1/86).
- Bill Demo, Tompkins Cortland Community Coll., Dryden, N.Y.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.