Product Description

The Housebuilder's Bible is the best-selling book on construction for builders and selfbuilders containing information, advice and yardstick costings. The is new edition is fully updated and is compliant with the latest building regs. It also includes an expanded green building section, more information on extensions and a new snagging list.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #994 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Synopsis
"The Housebuilder's Bible" is unique - the first book in its field to mix information and advice with detailed yardstick costings for residential building projects. The author is an experienced house builder and renovator and much of the detail in the book is drawn from trade experience. It's very much an insider's guide and experienced construction professionals have expressed amazement at the amount of detailed information in the book. Yet it's accessible - many readers who have never been involved with building before have used this book to successfully build their own homes. The seventh edition has been fully revised and updated to reflect recent changes in prices, Building Regulations and other legislation. It also includes an expanded green building section, more information on extensions and a snagging list. It's an ideal companion for anybody, self builder or professional, who wants to know more about building well and on a budget.

About the Author
Mark Brinkley, 49, lives and works in the house he built for his family in Cambridgeshire. He worked as a carpenter and a housebuilder for 15 years before he wrote the original edition of this book which established him as a writer. He is a regular contributor to the selfbuild magazine, Homebuilding & Renovating and an occasional contributor to many more.

Customer Reviews

Remove any Donald Rumsfeld from your life
The ex-Secretary of Defense is now most famous for his quote about knowledge. "...as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."
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When I started thinking about renovating my house and building an extension I had very few known knowns. After using the Housebuilder's Bible as a guide I now have no unknown unknowns and very few known unknowns. I and know how to know those.

So, if you're building or thinking of building and you feel an outbreak of Donald Rumsfeld is imminent; buy this book !

Essential reading for self-builders and project managers
Despite having no previous building experience, we have been building and/or project managing the build of our house for the past 2 years: see www.timval.com for a diary of the build.

Mark Brinkley's Housebuilder's Bible has proven to be invaluable. It provided us with sufficient technical information to allow us to select, negotiate with, and manage our architect and tradesmen. It gives realistic estimates of the main costs incurred, and highlights the potential pitfalls of self-building or project managing a build.

There are many books available which delve further into the technical aspects of building, but none draw together the essential points from design to finishes in such a clear and practical way.

The Housebuilder's Bible is the most useful tool you can buy if you are thinking of self-building or managing the renovation or new build of your own house.

Easily the best self-build book I have read
I have been interested in building my own house for at least 20 years and in that time I have read many books and countless magazine articles on the subject. Initially, most of the stuff I could find was american - often inspiring and very much geared to hands on do-it-yorself types but so far removed from the reality of building in bureaucratic Britain as to be almost useless. I have read books recently, written in this country, of a much more sober sort. They are often written by architects and, although many contain excellent advice on planning and contracts and garantees, there is often surprisingly little about the actual building process.

Mark Brinkley's book is different. It is immediately clear that this is written by a man who really knows about house building, both as a professional and a self-builder. He explains simply how houses are built, what choices there are to be made and what follows from them. Even better he explains why bulders, developers and the various subcontractors behave the way they do.

Building is not rocket science but there are many things that need to come together for it to work. Even if you don't intend to lift so much as a shovel in the process of your house build, you need to know the information in this book. It is clearly presented and easy to follow and cuts through the spin that various intrest groups put 'facts' and figures leaving you in a good position to make informed decisions.

For a book that contains so much information and insight, it is very easy to read and even entertaining in places and on top of that it really gives you a feel for what it is like to build your own house. I am 60% through the process of building my own house and still refer to this book often - if you only buy one book on self-build this should be it.