Product Description

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. This new edition has been completely redesigned with new tables and improved illustrations - all in colour for the first time. 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 eighth 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. The Eighth edition is fully updated to include the latest building regulations and an improved and expanded section on green building. An ideal companion for housebuilders and selfbuilders as well as anyone looking to extend or renovate a home.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1783 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-02
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 424 pages

About the Author
Mark Brinkley is an experienced housebuilder and renovator and much of the detail in the book is drawn from trade experience. He is famous for his best-selling book The Housebuilder's Bible and is in demand as a speaker and author. He writes regularly in Homebuilding & Renovating magazine as well as in building trade tiles.

Customer Reviews

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.

Essential reading - well written, excellent value for money.
If you're attempting a full house build or just extending or renovating, read this book.

It provides practical and objective information about all aspects of house building; it is easily understood by the lay person, without any 'dumbing down', and a useful reference for beginners and professionals alike.

It clearly lays out all the options and costs for each stage of building, allowing you to make informed decisions on how to proceed.

Whether self-building or employing builders, don't consider embarking on any building project without reading it first.

The book you should read BEFORE commencing your SelfBuild
This is probably the first book purchase that any SelfBuilder should make. I speak form experience - I bought the last 2 versions of it.
This title may mislead you to think this is a practical book, it isn't. However it is an excellent book, it has tables which allow you to work out the material and labour costs for just about every individual task involved with building a house. Rates are given in PC sums or as square or cubic metre rates.

I have prepared the detailed costings for my build using Marks tables, and it brings out many things which might have slipped by in my calculations. The cost per lightfitting to the charge per linear metre for scaffolding.

There is a fair amount of background detail to various stages of the build and to who does what and how to organise things. With plenty of examples of the various methods of achieving the results i.e. drylining costs and plastering costs are detailed.

It does take some getting used to, you need to look at the front example build find the relevant chapter and look at the breakdown and then find the relevant table to see the full breakdown of material & labour costs.

A very good book and a must if you want to know what you should expect to pay.

I now have the 98/99 version and the book although not greatly changed remains an indispensable item for those who are Selfbuilding rather than just taking a turnkey package from a company.

Still a little lean on timber frame details, but at least some new data in this version.

I can honestly recommend this book for anyone interested in carrying out a Selfbuild.