Owner builder Books/Articles

[adias]

I thought I'd start a owner builder book topic so we can share interesting reference material...

I've starting reading "The Independent Builder" by Sam Clark and for my level find it very usefull since it gives a good over view of the entire building process.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0930031857/qid=1133889084/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-5170950-0667009?s=books&v=glance&n=283155




Ajit

[HADave]

Ajit and anyone else looking for straight forward advise and how -to info try www.hometime.com/index.html select under projects for a brief crash course on building whatever. Some of you may know Hometime from TV used to be a regular and I think still is you can get that info as well. Still more and better is the store where you can purchase info on video. Some of the best building info for novices out there. Me and Dean Johnson go way back. The site is good for you Female Nailers as well as He always uses a Female to co-host his shows.

Then there is, The Build Like A Pro series of how-to books sold at your local Home Depot and probably also found at www.taunton.com Also from Taunton is the Code Check series of spiralbound laminated flip pages, a filed guide to building a safe house for all phases of construction covering the most common code violations.

Anything you can get your hands on by Fine Homebuilding Magazine, is an excellant resource for feature articles, I have many.

Last but not least Building Traditional Kitchen Cabinets by Jim Tolpin **** buy this and learn to use it. It will save you 1000s...

[mella l]

Aloha and thanks for this topic. I went to http://www.powells.com/s?kw=code+check&x=67&y=15


Powell's Books (Oregon) they have some new and used of these books also at a lesser price, not always the best idea but hey worth the look see.

I will order a few for us electrical, plumbing and building to start. Thanks for the suggestions.

mella l

[adias]

How to Build a House from Habitat for Humanity.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1561585327/qid=1134058546/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-3512012-1854455?n=507846&s=books&v=glance

As a novice I find this book interesting since it’s relatively simple to read and goes through start to finish on all aspects of house building. They also focus on design ideas that cut down on costs and simplifies building.

As an owner building, whether you plan to sub everything out or do it yourself, this should be worthwhile read if your experience is limited.

Furthermore, Habitat folks crank out houses where most of the crews are regular folks, Have any of you worked on a Habitat project? Love to hear your experience with them.


Ajit

[Rob Tucker]

I worked with Habitat over a dozen years or so. Started out with them as a project manager then became Construction Chief for HfH in Ventura County for the Northridge earthquake recovery. That was an interesting 18 months.

It's a very good organization. Very grass roots. I was involved in the Hilo HfH for a while but, at the time, it was very badly managed. I hope that has changed. If anyone was interested in getting involved I would highly recommend it.

It does not take building experience to be productive with HfH.

If anyone wanted to continue this lilne of thought I suggest they start a new topic for it.

Chairman, Punaweb Committee, MSPA

[adias]

Construction Basics (http://www.hometime.com/store2/dvd_6303.htm) by HADave’s buddy Dean Johnson gives good overview of the steps in stick building and helps to demystify the construction process to the novice owner-builder, like me ;-).

It’s only $14.00 and a good augment to the reading material in this thread. The DVD conveys some of the information that is difficult to grasp by just reading about it.


Ajit