Independent Builder: Designing & Building a House Your Own Way (Real Goods Independent Living Books) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Subtitled "Designing and Building a House Your Own Way," this is the book for anyone thinking about building their own home. It is comprehensive, detailed and covers subjects I have never before seen covered in home building books, like how to make a small house seem bigger, incorporating ergonomics and accessibility, doing your own drawings and scale models, making contracts that work, and working effectively with professional designers and builders. With detailed diagrams and photographs, this is the most thorough overall guide to building your own home I have ever seen (and I've seen a lot!).

From Library Journal

Clark, a carpenter, designer, and builder with over 25 years' experience, has revised and expanded his earlier Designing and Building Your House Your Own Way (Chelsea Green, 1978) to reflect recent developments. Clark takes a pragmatic approach to construction, combining the best new technologies with more traditional, time-tested methods (the main criteria being whether the construction is cost-effective and can stand the test of time). The first third of the book covers design, preparation, making contracts, and estimating costs, areas that aren't very glamorous but are of the utmost importance. The rest of the book covers materials, systems (heating, cooling, and water), and methods of construction. Clark doesn't engage in a lot of hand-holding-the information is short and to the point. This tome is chock-full of so much information that it could make even the most ardent do-it-yourselfer's head spin. Recommended for all construction collections. (Photos and appendixes not seen.)-Jonathan N. Hershey, Akron-Summit Cty. P.L., Ohion
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Chelsea Green (October 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0930031857
• ISBN-13: 978-0930031855
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #212,796 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #72 in	Books > Home & Garden > Home Design > House Plans
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An ACCURATE subtitle: as much about design as about building, March 22, 2003

By	Henry Perkins (Santa Clara, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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Sam Clark uses up half the book before he gets into the nitty-gritty of construction methods. This really IS a book about house DESIGN as well as construction. As such, it's an EXCELLENT book for someone who's starting from scratch to create their own house. The approach is extremely methodical, treating mindsets and goals as elements of the design process equal in importance to elevation drawings.

The illustrations bear particular attention. The (black and white) photographs are well composed, and have high contrast to clearly delineate the features that are supposed to be of interest. The line drawings are rather funky looking (in part because Clark appears not to own a ruler), but nevertheless do a very good job of illustrating what the text is talking about. This is the case for three reasons: (1) they were created by the author, who knew EXACTLY what part of the text needed visual aids; (2) their rulerless nature means that Clark can emphasize particular features rather than focus on strict scale drawings; and (3) each one is sized independently to take up as much space as is required to depict the subject matter, without worrying about "wasting" some page area. The end result is that the text and illustrations fit together well to make a unified whole.

For more detail on the Building part of creating a house, I'd recommend "Do-It-Yourself HOUSEBUILDING" by George Nash. But because Nash's book doesn't come close to Clark's for clarity, I'd first read Clark's book cover-to-cover. Then I'd keep Sam Clark's book open to the same subject area so that you can step back and get a clear overview as you get confused in the details of the Nash book.

57 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an excellent resource for the builder on a budget, January 12, 1999

By A Customer

Clark does a great job of taking into consideration the needs of people who want to build a good quality home in the most economical way possible. Unlike most homebuilding books i've read, he manages to explain things thoroughly without talking down to the reader or covering only the most obvious things. He assumes that the reader is interested in energy efficiency and environmental issues along with aesthetics, ergonomics, and accessibility. An extremely helpful and realistic book.Includes useful charts and cross-sections of building systems.

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Our Housebuilding Course textbook, April 25, 2000

By	Will Beemer (Washington, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

After offering our course in owner-building at Heartwood for over twenty years, we've found Sam Clark's book to be the ideal textbook. It's not just a carpentry book, not just a design book, not just an engineering book. It's the most concise yet comprehensive guide to all the systems and decisions that go into a home and its creation. In this age of a super-heated economy and opulent excess in trophy homes, it's refreshing to find a resource for building a truly economical and liveable house.