Building an Affordable House: Trade Secrets to High-Value, Low-Cost Construction

This book has been helpful to me, but perhaps not for the reasons the author intended.I'm in the midst of renovating an old Victorian. You could say I'm doing it the "price is no object" sort of way. It's not that I'm wasting money, but if i can find a commercial version of some hinge that's a bit stronger, i'll probably use that. I'm looking for the most interesting materials, the newest and most efficient heating system, and I'm not cutting corners. I'm building my own curving master staircase, if that gives you any indication of what I'm up to.My goal is to sell the house to a discerning buyer who will appreciate the custom made cabinets, vaulted ceilings, interesting species of hardwood, and so forth.This book is not for builders such as myself. It is for those builders who want to know all the little shortcuts they can get away with to save a little money here or there, thus to appeal to "first time buyers" or I guess what could be called "low information buyers." For example, the book demonstrates how a knee-wall made of 2x4s and drywall is a little cheaper to make than a hardwood banister with posts for stairs. Or how you could save a few dollars by putting your joists on 24" centers instead of 16" centers... or how certain construction methods such as cross bracing between joists are old, outdated, quaint, and unnecessary, and you can save the few dollars by just not putting them in (not in my town but maybe somewhere more lenient.)Hardwood stairs are out of the question. The stairs described in this book use cheap composite materials, and are hidden by carpeting or paint. I'm sure that's okay for some people.So this is definitely a good book for those who want to quickly construct cheapo houses that aren't all that great, but at least (hopefully) protect their modest buyers from the elements.It's actually also a great book for first time home buyers to take a look at because they can utilize the knowledge in the book to rapidly ascertain among the houses they are looking to buy, which ones have been constructed on the cheap.

Having read other people's reviews and their concerns about his "cutting corners", I disagree with them. The author/builder is trying to inform us of better ways to build, i.e. cutting out unnecessary costs caused by old-school thinking. I love the OVE theory/practice and makes total sense (to me).I thought I knew quite a bit about house building, turns out I don't know hardly anything and Fernando pointed out many things that aren't obvious (at least to me) such as which is more economical to build: a square or rectangular home or which is more cost-effective: hip roofs vs hip/gables -- you'll have to buy the book to find out!!! I have learned SO MUCH and I'm only on page 62 and I bet that each page has at least 2 post-it notes attached to them already!I know someone criticised that some photos/captions got screwed up, but that's publishing folks! I for one didn't mind all the photos and line art - but I do admit that it has caused me to have to keep track of the text between the photos and charts etc. so that you don't miss anything.Thanks Fernando for enlightening me and for taking time to write the book!

We're dealing with more expensive construction (and mostly remodels)here in the SF bay area. A friend is spending $600k to put a 2nd storyon their <2000sf house. House across the street was bought for $1.5M andall but torn down. I'm also building from start in another nearby area.This book is definitely geared toward contractors and people buildinghouses in bulk. Figuring out many of these procedures will only beworth the time spent on engineering/planning by the time you're builtyour 10th one.But, it's a must read for contractors, architects, engineers, owner-builders,or anyone just doing remodeling. People building around here obviously stillhaven't grasped most of the precepts in this book. Every page haslots of tips, and while some people will have encountered none andsome most, I doubt everyone has encountered all of them. One tipat the planning stage can save you thousands.He's very balanced in how the advice is given. for example, X is moreexpensive than (OLD WAY), but he tells you the subs will save timeand sweat (which you may or not be able to recoup), the final productwill be better, and you might be able to avoid other costs of Y orfollowup costs of Z. He also gives typical cost breakdowns of allthe alternatives.He also does quite a bit to show good citizenship alternatives tominimize energy loss at minimal cost.A lot of the book is dedicated to foundations/framing and alternatives which aredissected for pros and cons.

This book is really aimed at US Property developers who are building more than one house.Many concepts are not applicable in UK / EU markets as we tend to build with brick rather than wood.There are some good 'cost saving' concepts in here - but they are aimed at property developers who are building many houses as many savings are aimed at saving $100 here and $75 there...... which is fine if you are building many houses - but if you're building just one, then there are no big wins revealed in this book !I have given it 4 stars - as a book it does have some good concepts and it is not really the books fault that it doesn't really apply to me.

I liked this book and would strongly recommend it to others in the business. I do think that some of the ideas may be a little too "cheap" for buyers today in our area. Having said that the wisdom can be customized to fit the needs of clientele in every price point.

Excellent book full of tested ideas to maintain and often improve quality despite a tight budget. Every owner-builder should read this book.

It is ok.It is kinda unrealistic.Some make sense but most don't.