The Owner-Builder Book How Owner-Builders Build More for Less

From the Back Cover Praise for The Owner-Builder Book "Dream on. If you've always dreamed of a special, custom home of your own, you may want to try The Owner-Builder Book. It is an easy to understand, step-by-step guide even a novice can comprehend. Even if you hire a contractor to build your home, this book will help you greatly to understand the process." The Orange County Register "From shopping for a piece of land on which to build and getting loan to dealing with a contractor, the Smiths' advice covers everything about building a home. The authors advise on getting organized and tackling the hardest parts of the process step by step. Best of all, the back of the book is an awesome resource guide to special reports, MP3's, DVDs, software, and other information sources that will give you the courage to build." Women's Day Home Remodeling "The Smiths share their experience and strategies for owner-building in their fascinating book. It's incredibly detailed, with valuable lists, charts, ideas, and questionnaires, yet is easy reading. Even if your construction project is modest - say remodeling your kitchen or adding a deck - this is must reading." Pocket Change Investor "One of the things every family hopes for is a home designed as they want it to be. It is also one of the last things most families realistically ever hope to have. Now, perhaps this is the book that 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." Vero Beach Press Journal "By acting as their own general contractors, the Smiths saved $180,000 on construction costs. The book details the process of developing a materials list, obtaining bids from subcontractors, shopping around for bargains and minimizing costs room by room." South Bend Tribune "What are the secrets to acting as your own general contractor to save money on the construction of your home? The Owner-Builder Book answers this question and explains how you can act as your own general contractor in the construction of your own home and save big." Pasadena Star-News "Your home is where the greatest part of your `wealth' lies. Mark and Elaine Smith have written a book that guides you through the process of building your own home and saving considerable dollars that will add to that wealth without the risk of other investments. The book offers a view that by serving as your own general contractor, you can save big dollars, and your custom home will have a higher value... therefore your equity will be greater. The process does require work, and that's what this book is about. The key is in the planning. Probably the most important chapters in the book deal with subs. How to find them, how to get them on the job, and how to keep them on the job. Also important, the chapters on how to buy materials, bargain on prices, and shop in unexpected places." The Rocky Mountain News Product Description Companion to the best available guide to saving money on a home construction project, The Owner-Builder Book: How You Can Save More than $100,000 in the Construction of your Custom Home. The Special Reports volume shows you how to contract your new home, remodel, or addition at phenomenal savings. Contains a step-by-step description of each component of the process, from finding land to building green. Includes interviews with representative subcontractors and hundreds of suggestions from owner-builders on each topic of interest in building or remodeling your home. Illustrated with owner-builder photos. Richly colored sidebars provide links to thousands of Forum threads, and template forms for contracts, agreements, budget and schedule forms and worksheets. Super-index provides over 7,000 search terms for total utility. From the Publisher This book will help you through a challenging task, that of acting as contractor on a new home, house addition or remodel. There is a tremendous amount of money