Building Your Home: An Insider's Guide [Paperback]

Carol Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1996

The experience of building a home is complicated, exciting, scary, fun, expensive, gratifying, time-consuming, and wonderful-sometimes all in the same day. However, with informed expectations, you can enjoy the process and love the result. With this book, you learn firsthand about the home building process and dealing with builders from an experienced industry professional. Author Carol Smith is a leading customer relations consultant for the home building industry with 21 years of experience in such positions as vice president of customer relations, orientation rep, construction superintendent, real estate broker, property manager, and mortgage rerider. Building Your Home: An Insider's Gui& takes you step by step through the home building process and helps you find a com-fortable balance among qualo, features, and price. From Home Builder Press, 1996, 174 pp.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"One of the best references available to any who plan on working with a builder." --Diane Donovan,Midwest Book Review. --The Midwest Book Review, November 2005 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Carol Smith knows how home buyers should be treated and what they need to know. In this second edition of Building Your Home: An Insider's Guide, she shares 30 years of experience in the construction, customer relations, real estate, and mortgage industries with homeowners and builders alike. An internationally renowned expert and frequent speaker at NAHBs International Builders Show, and a bestselling author of more than a dozen books focusing on home building, she publishes a bimonthly newsletter, Home Address. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 166 pages
• Publisher: Home Builder Pr (November 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0867184213
• ISBN-13: 978-0867184211
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,423,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Internationally renowed, Carol Smith is a customer relations expert with nearly 35 years of experience in the home building, customer relations, real estate, and mortgage industries with home owner and builders alike.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Building you Home: An Insider's Guide, March 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Building Your Home: An Insider's Guide (Paperback)

Unfortunately there is no insider information in Carol Smith's book other than the fact that she is a featured speaker at conventions hosted by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF HOME BUILDERS. Also take note on who published this book, the same association. This is a red flag in my book, meaning she walks with builders and not with the people who are building the house and spending their life savings. Her lack of information and importance on employing a ARCHITECT baffles me. When building a new home the builder is the last person on you side and if you belive he is your fairytail dream house will not come true.

1.0 out of 5 stars Suited for the novice but lacks much substance, February 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Building Your Home: An Insider's Guide (Paperback)

This is an easy to read book written from the perspective of the professional builder. It highlights most major aspects of the building process from selecting a builder to closing on your house, and is best suited for the novice. The book offers little substantive information and generally advises that one should clarify all questions and concerns before signing a building contract. I missed information about customary fees, most common problems encountered and strategies to avoid them, the role various other professionals may play in your plan, ideas to reduce costs, and a detailed comparative of advantages or disadvantages a professional home builder should offer over self contracting or other approaches for construction of your home. For those new to the process its probably a good place to start.

4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Home building and home builders, May 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Building Your Home: An Insider's Guide (Paperback)

Smith does a great job of explaining the process of home building. Helped us understand how to work with our builder and keep communications flowing. We love our new house and enjoyed watching it get built!