The Brand-New House Book: Everything You Need to Know About Planning, Designing, and Building a Custom, Semi-Custom, or Production-Built House [Paperback]

Katherine Salant (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 17, 2001

From the first vague ideas to the finished structure, building a brand-new house presents you with thousands of choices -- and possible pitfalls. Yet there's no single expert you can turn to at every stage and ask, "What do I do?" Until now. This definitive reference will help you:

* Figure out how much house you need, and how much you can afford
* Choose among types of builders, communities, and lots
* Negotiate the offer, financing, contract, and closing
* Assess options and upgrades -- which are worth it and which are not
* Understand windows, flooring, kitchens, landscaping, and scores of other issues
* Work with real-estate agents, architects, site superintendents, home inspectors, attorneys -- your whole team, which may consist of dozens of players

The Brand-New House Book distills the most crucial advice from hundreds of experts -- from the broad strokes such as bankers on mortgages, interior designers on colors, or arborists on trees to fine-tuning such as cleaners on carpets, movers on staircases, or landscape architects on drainage, every issue is addressed. Thorough and authoritative, yet completely accessible, this book is the most valuable investment you can make to ensure that you bypass the potential nightmares and ultimately come home to the house of your dreams.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An indispensable resource for anyone contemplating a new house."
-- Sarah Susanka, author of The Not So Big House and Creating the Not So Big House

From the Inside Flap

From the first vague ideas to the finished structure, building a brand-new house presents you with thousands of choices -- and possible pitfalls. Yet there's no single expert you can turn to at every stage and ask, "What do I do?" Until now. This definitive reference will help you:

* Figure out how much house you need, and how much you can afford
* Choose among types of builders, communities, and lots
* Negotiate the offer, financing, contract, and closing
* Assess options and upgrades -- which are worth it and which are not
* Understand windows, flooring, kitchens, landscaping, and scores of other issues
* Work with real-estate agents, architects, site superintendents, home inspectors, attorneys -- your whole team, which may consist of dozens of players

The Brand-New House Book distills the most crucial advice from hundreds of experts -- from the broad strokes such as bankers on mortgages, interior designers on colors, or arborists on trees to fine-tuning such as cleaners on carpets, movers on staircases, or landscape architects on drainage, every issue is addressed. Thorough and authoritative, yet completely accessible, this book is the most valuable investment you can make to ensure that you bypass the potential nightmares and ultimately come home to the house of your dreams.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; First Edition edition (July 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609805835
• ISBN-13: 978-0609805831
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,009,135 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Covers all the bases, June 3, 2002

By 

misterbeets "misterbeets" (Safe Harbor, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Brand-New House Book: Everything You Need to Know About Planning, Designing, and Building a Custom, Semi-Custom, or Production-Built House (Paperback)

If you're looking at $200,000+ houses in a development, this is the book for you. Written by an architect / syndicated columnist for prospective homebuyers. Shows how to succeed armed only with your checkbook and a phalanx of experts, including your own "building inspector" to check the other building inspector. One drawback: as a result of the author being so well-read, and maybe not so "hands-on", everything that could possibly affect this purchase is covered, no matter how minor. So after selecting a builder (avoiding those who don't think much of architects), interviewing the site superintendent, as well as the developer's banker (how you get his number, or what you say to him once you get him on the phone, is anybody's guess), and going through the motions of preparing dinner in the model kitchen, to make sure it's big enough, don't forget to flush the second floor toilets and check the noise they make downstairs, since if you don't like what you hear presumably you must be prepared to start the whole process over again. I suppose it's good to itemize all these things and let the reader decide what to ignore, but it would be better to edit them to help the reader understand what is important. Also, a good portion of the book covers familiar territory: designing your house to suit your "lifestyle", carpeting vs. wood. vs. tile, etc.

This is also the only book I've seen that discouraged acting as your own general contractor. What's funny is, as proof, the author offers an anecdote of another architect who, even after building an extravagant home (4500 sq ft) with bottom-of-the-barrel subs (brags of having to get up to 20 bids to get a 'reasonable' price), complains that it was so stressful that, geez, if it weren't for the $100,000 he saved, he'd never have done it. This is meant to discourage me?

Anyway, a very thorough book.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for Those Wanting to Build a House!, October 11, 2001

By 

Barbara Stranak (Oconomowoc, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Brand-New House Book: Everything You Need to Know About Planning, Designing, and Building a Custom, Semi-Custom, or Production-Built House (Paperback)

My husband and I are in the process of building our first home and we were being overwhelmed by everything going on. We had purchased several other books on building a home, but they were detailed, "how to" build a house books. What we needed was a book that would help us through the process of building when you were working with a builder. This book was excellent!

We actually bought two copies and read it together. It provided insight into the process of hiring a builder, obtaining financing, working within your budget, and assessing whether various options were worth it or not. In addition, the book includes examples and advice from experts in the field.

This book is perfect for anyone wanting to build a house!

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book out there on the topic, February 14, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Brand-New House Book: Everything You Need to Know About Planning, Designing, and Building a Custom, Semi-Custom, or Production-Built House (Paperback)

Very helpful. I found this book to be more helpful that all the rest, and I have gone through a ton of them. Sure, the design of the book is unfortunate, but the author's actual imput outweighs that. Shame on those who can't see past it.
Great book. Essential. My contractor finally recommended it after I'd read too many other books...and it's great. The Kitchen section was especially helpful.
God bless you, Katherine Salant.