The Owner-builder Workshop Dvds [Hardcover]

Mark A. Smith (Author), Smith Elaine M (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Consensus Group Inc; DVD edition (July 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 096614287X
• ISBN-13: 978-0966142877
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,602,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars For Utah Owner-Contractors, not generic Owner-Builders, April 16, 2007

By 

jdjc2 - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Owner-builder Workshop Dvds (Hardcover)

Disappointed. I bought this DVD set expecting information on owner-BUILDER issues (like a "this auld house"...how to put up roof trusses with one person...etc), but it is about three-hours of "home video"-quality taping of one seminar in Utah on how to be an owner-CONTRACTOR...in Utah. They mention their book a lot; and throw candy rewards to their audience who chant Pavlovian mnemonics and complete math calculations...on calculators. Hymns sung about the miracle of spreadsheets for budgeting and comparing bids...to an audience which did not look like they owned computers.

Poor production quality. Sound cut in and out. Speakers kept talking away from the hand-held microphone, or, put the microphone down! Picture bobbed around like bad hand-held for first fifteen minutes of first disc. Abrupt cuts in and out of conversations, topics, speakers. You couldn't see anything they wrote on the whiteboard. Dark room. Their overhead projections were barely visible; occasionally there are graphics super-imposed over the real-time seminar with some of the information being discussed.

They spent five-ten minutes on one disc discussing how they negotiated the price of the video camera (being used to record the seminar), batteries and film, and how this was example about how to negotiate with the contractors and vendors to get good equipment at lower prices, and took special pains to credit the people filming the seminar.

The last disc included a bunch of Utah vendor presentations and their purported discounts for the seminar attendees. I'm tempted to call up vendors and "mention" the seminar to see if I could get the discounts.

If you still want to buy, don't try to watch (think Blair Witch Project).