Tips & Traps When Building Your Home [Paperback]

Robert Irwin (Author)

Book Description

Series: Tips and Traps | Publication Date: August 28, 2000

Leading real-estate author Robert Irwin provides home builders with valuable money-saving tips to building a home from the ground up in Tips & Traps When Building Your Home. Featuring a self-test to determine whether the reader is more suited to hiring it all out or doing some of it alone, this user-friendly guide outlines the perilous traps that often come with building your own home. Irwin helps readers determine whether or not to hire out the entire process or whether to act as the primary contractor. Once that is decided, Irwin then helps builders determine:

• How building and contracting effects home-owners' insurance
• Whether or not to hire an architect
• If building plans need to be presented to the local zoning board
• Contractors' and builders' adherence to electrical codes, sewage codes, and occupancy codes

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

America's #1 real estate expert shows you how to build the home of your dreams from the ground up!

You've done it! You've decided to take the plunge and build your dream house. how hard could it be­­just build a house with everything you've always wanted in it­­simple, right? Wrong! When designing and building their own home, many people fall into a minefield of mistakes that can cost them time and money. There are countless decisions to make and questions to answer before your vision can become a reality. Do you know what to look out for?

• Should you hire an architect or should you buy stock plans?
• Do you have what it takes to act as your own general contractor?
• What are the different types of building materials available and what are their advantages and disadvantages?
• How do you finance the lot and the construction?

Best-selling author of the popular Tips & Traps series, Robert Irwin now guides prospective homeowners through every step of the building process. Irwin shares his personal experiences and solid advice with detailed insider information on the in's and out's of home construction.

Whether you're building a vacation home or the house of your dreams, don't make another move without this valuable resource!

About the Author

Robert Irwin has built homes from the ground up as well as completed dozens of major renovation and remodeling projects. He is best known as a real estate broker and the author of the best-selling Tips & Traps real estate series. He serves as a consultant to lenders, investors, and brokers. Irwin is recognized as one of the most knowledgeable writers in the real estate field today.

Product Details

• Paperback: 246 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (August 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 007135686X
• ISBN-13: 978-0071356862
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #829,505 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light on detail but useful - a good companion book, April 1, 2007

By 

Laura C. (Bridgton, Maine) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tips & Traps When Building Your Home (Paperback)

If you are looking for a really thorough book, this isn't it, but many of the tips are very helpful. Read it with a highlighter and just mark the good stuff and then refer back. I bought this along with Woodson's "Build Your Dream Home for Less" and found that the two together were a great pair. Woodson's is very thorough and takes you through step by step, and Irwin's had a lot of additional tips that Woodson's didn't. Irwin tends not to define many of the "trade" terms he uses and for people who aren't handy, it's frustrating. On the other hand, Woodson does define most terms so if you read both, you're in pretty good shape. This book is not the be-all, end-all book but definitely worth buying - it should save you some money if you are general contracting your home.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must buy for people want to build their own home, May 1, 2007

By 

S. Zheng - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tips & Traps When Building Your Home (Paperback)

This is not the book to teach you all details of how to actually construct your home, but it's extremely useful to help you understand the process and get things started. Excellent "tips" and "traps"!!!

39 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good, March 15, 2004

By 

Randy Given (Manchester, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tips & Traps When Building Your Home (Paperback)

This is a very good book that is easy to read. Now, there were some things that I disagree with, as well as other "expert" developers, but overall the tips and traps were right on. So, this is a book that you should read if you are building a hime, but also read at least one other good book. Because of some of those things that were too specific (i.e., not mentioning other reasonable options), I nearly gave it four stars. However, it is worth reading and normally would warrant the five stars.