We began looking for a house to buy. After some amount of looking and discussion we agreed that we would instead, build a house . Unwittingly, the saga that would lead to the publication of this guide had begun. We went through all of the normal steps of buying land, designing the house, selecting a builder, securing financing, overseeing the building process, and finally 17 months later, after taking our builder to small claims court, we moved in. There are many benefits to building your own home exactly how you like it. After your home is built you can use accents like kitchen rugs and stunning art pieces to draw attention to the customized architecture that you helped design. For example, a painting hung in a vaulted ceiling attracts the eye to notice just how high the ceiling is in that area of the house.
Thankfully we did a lot of things correctly. But, unfortunately there were many things we should have done differently. As soon as we had finished the process I wrote about 9 pages of notes for myself to use when we built our second house. About this time a baby came into our lives and my notes went into a file and stayed there for more than six years.
The Internet had blossomed during those six years and I recognized the potential value of the education I had received in the "school of hard knocks". At the same time I was somewhat uncomfortable with presenting myself as an expert in the area of house building. I decided to see what information was available. I went first to the Internet and bought almost every new house building guide I could find and read them. I was quite surprised at what I found. The information fell into two basic groups. One group provided only a general overview of the home building process, with a few checklists and timetables, but overall was really pretty useless. The second group attempted to teach consumers how to be the GC and save money by taking on the role of a builder. Next I went to Amazon.com and bought several books on building a new home. Once again I found that many of these were written by builders. And once again I found that, while there was some good information in these, none of them contained what I considered to be the most critical information, i.e. how to save thousands of dollars when building a new home without being the GC. In my mind this was the most critical detail and no one was writing from that perspective.
Having finally convinced myself that the information I had compiled was important, generally unavailable elsewhere, and could save the homeowner a bundle, I made the decision to write the House Building Guide. When I wrote this Guide I never anticipated it would be so popular. With thousands of satisfied customers, we have a growing list of testimonials and more recently, pictures of homes built by purchasers of the Guide.
The House Building Guide is an indispensable resource for anyone planning on building a new house in the near future. Order your copy today and join our more than 7645 customers, in all 50 states and Canada , who have successfully built homes, saved money, and avoided the pitfalls using the knowledge and tools provided in the Guide. And remember, your order is backed by our risk free, lifetime, money back guarantee.
As you embark on one of the most rewarding and financially important projects of you life, I wish you the best of luck with your new house building adventures.
James Todd, Author
p.s.
The Guide has been updated five times since it was first issued. It is up-to-date, and ready to be put to work in 2009 on your house building project.
p.p.s. Great News! We listened to your input and have now teamed with a builder who teaches builders and consumers how to build homes. If you are looking for more detailed home building instruction, this is it.
Click here for more information.
The House and Home Building Guide will show you how to save thousands of dollars on your building project.
If you are building an average sized house in the U.S. (~$200,000) you should be able to save $5000-$10,000 or about 5% of the construction costs of your home. The best part is that you can realize these types of savings
without being the General Contractor (GC)
on your house building project. This is an extremely important point because being the GC on a house is almost a full time job - and few people today have that amount of free time. Furthermore, even if you were one of the lucky few who had the time, without the practical experience, you would have a very difficult time managing the process. For most people the bottom line is that a builder, whom you hire, will be responsible for all of the nitty gritty details of getting the house built - not you. He is your house building expert and you should use him for his expertise.
This House Building Guide walks you through, step-by-step , and shows you exactly what you need to do to save money. But it goes well beyond that, by incorporating the logistics of how you save this money into an example set of specifications and an example contract . What you get then, is not just a single document - but 11 documents -- a complete house building kit:
By putting into practice the tips in the House Building Guide you should easily save 50 fold the purchase price. In fact if you followed through on just one of the money savings tips contained in the Guide, you would pay for its cost many times over. This analysis doesn't even take into consideration the value of the many convenience tips. What else could you ask for? Here is a quick look at just a few of the other things contained in the Guide.
Here are seven things your builder would prefer you didn't know. Once you read the Guide you will understand:
The vast majority of people can't do it all themselves. A good builder is indispensable. This Guide can help you find one and show you:
The Guide contains a 71 point Builder's Questionnaire and Interview Guide to assist you in organizing your thoughts and making certain you cover all the key points with prospective builders.
The House Building Guide is packed with dozens of money saving and convenience tips and practical advice. Get educated before jumping into the building process or your ignorance could cost you big bucks. Here is some additional information you will find in the Guide:
We currently have almost 35,000 subscribers to our e-newsletter. We'd like to add you to this list, just for visiting our site, Complete the form below and we'll give you a FREE six month subscription to this newsletter - an $18 value. Our House Building Ezine covers a wide variety of topics- all related to new home construction and house building. Some of the recent topics covered have included: Energy Savings, Credit Scores, Homeowners Insurance, Finishing a Basement - Now vs. Later, Home Construction in the Winter, A Primer on Windows, Home Wiring, termite control, and Modular Home Construction to name a few.
For eight years we have published and distributed this newsletter free of charge. But as of the end of 2005 that changed. To offset the costs associated with the production and distribution of this newsletter we are now charging a $37 annual subscription fee. However, anyone who purchases the House Building Guide will receive a free, one year subscription, and thereafter will be able to purchase it for the nominal cost of $12 per year. If you just want the newsletter and not the Guide, the cost will be $37.
I have included with the Guide an example set of specifications and a sample house building contract. Specifications are the details behind the blue prints that define specifically what is to be built. For example, let's take the doors shown in your house plan. Specifications will tell you what color,
size, and materials they are to made from, what kind of hardware they will have, whether they are to be painted, whether they will have door stops - and if they are - what kind of stops these will be. Are you beginning to get the picture? Without good, tight specifications, your builder will have a lot of latitude in deciding how your house will be built, and it's a good bet that you will not be thrilled with his choices. The example specs included in the Guide will go a long way to making certain you've covered all the bases.
Your House Building Contract is similarly important. It should cover all of the many contingencies that might arise in your building project. For example, if the builder is late in finishing your house, and you have to move out of your present one and into a rental apartment, who pays for this, you or your builder? Examples abound, but without a good contract, you builder can get away with much and have little account- ability for his actions. Take if from me, this is not something you want to learn the hard way.
Here are just a small sample of important points that need to be in the contract you sign:
These Specifications and the Contract documents are provided in a Word format so you can edit or modify them for your own use. If you tried to buy these two documents at one of the sites that sell construction documents you would pay between $29 and $49 for EACH of these documents. Together they represent a $70 value,and have been packaged with your purchase of the Guide at no additional cost.
The information contained in Healthy House Building Tips will surprise and alarm you. Every one who is building a new house should be aware of the things contained in this document. For those with allergies, chronic illness, multiple chemical sensitivities, asthma, or respiratory illness this information is absolutely essential. The bottom line is that two trends in house build ing have converged to make the typical new house constructed today less healthy than it was 50 years ago. These trends are the increasing tendency to use man made materials and the con struction of "tighter" homes with less outside air exchange. Did you know that the indoor air quality in most new homes is 5-10 times worse than outdoor air, even in the most polluted industrial areas? That is why the information found in the Healthy House Building Tips document is so important. Here is an example section.
"Perhaps the worst offenders when it comes to building healthier houses are carpets and specifically man-made carpets. They can contain a variety of substances that outgas for many years. These gases are precisely what you are smelling when you enter a carpet store or a newly carpeted room. The many nice features you can purchase for carpeting such as color fastness, stain proofing, fire resistance, etc. are achieved by the use of chemicals. Carpets outgas these chemicals at the highest rates for the first few years but continue slowly for many years thereafter."
The good news is that if you are aware of the air quality problems associated with the normal new house construction project, much can be done to mitigate these problems, and at a reasonable cost.
It's raining cat's and dog's and the roof on your new house is only partly finished. Your builder's sub has been working on this task for a week already, and you don't know why it's taking so long. Should it take a week to finish, or longer? Is someone dragging their feet? Should you complain to your builder, since the water's pouring in on your partially completed house? Our time line will help you answer these questions. We provide you with timelines for four different houses - a ranch and a colonial - and a 1500 and 300 sq ft. home. While certainly not definitive, this timeline gives you a basic understanding of how long certain tasks should take, and armed with this ammunition you can make decisions and take actions - like talking to the builder about WHY it's taking so long to finish the roof, when it should have been done in three days.
The House Building Task List is a 180 point checklist of items that you should consider when building a house. Assuming your follow our advice and hire a builder, almost all of these things should be his responsibility. However, this comprehensive list will give you the ability to monitor and double check what your builder is doing or should be doing. It's an invaluable aid to assist you in monitoring the progress of your builder and your house building project.
Would you like to know if you qualify for a mortgage? And if you do, the amount that you qualify for. And if you don't qualify, why not. Now there is a fast and simple way to do this WITHOUT speaking to a broker. Our terrific new prequalification tool takes into account all important aspects of your credit history, income, and expenses and tells you EXACTLY where you stand. Purchasers of the Guide have unlimited access to the use of this tool.
Every purchaser of the House Building Guide will automatically receive a free subscription to our acclaimed newsletter. This newsletter covers important and timely topics in the new home construction field. Here are just a few of the many topics covered in recent newsletters.
Higher energy costs mean, not only higher cost for gasoline at the pump, but higher costs to heat, cool and live in your home. This Energy report was compiled to assist you in designing your new home to minimize energy costs. It comes with a home energy checklist designed for your use as you build your home.
For a limited time, I am also throwing in a free house plan. I know that one size does not fit all, but for those customers interested in this type of plan it's an amazing free gift. I spent more than $600 to have these plans drawn up. This is a value of at least $500, and probably hundreds more judging by the prices for similar plans on some of the House Plan websites. It's a tremendous bonus gift (Click for the free house plan details)
that you will not find anywhere else, but I can only guarantee this gift if you act within the next
4
days.
But a guarantee is only as good as the business that stands behind it. House-Building.com is a member of BBB Online, one of the most well known and respected business reliability organizations in the U.S. BBB Online members must subscribe to a code of ethics for transacting business online. Check our standing with the Better Business Bureau by clicking the Reliability Seal.
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