Customer Reviews
brilliant - By: paris kennard, 06 Aug 2008 
this is a great book, so much useful information in there. in my opinion theres already enough good reviews to convince one to buy it, so theres not reallly much to add.
although its important to know, this doesn't tell you practical skills, 'how-to's like roofing, plumbing etc. its more about prices of materials verses labour, explains the ins & outs of employing an architect to design for you, explains how to deal with building regulations, that kind of thing.
VERY useful
paris
Remove any Donald Rumsfeld from your life - By: R. Owen, 06 Feb 2007 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."
.
When I started thinking about renovating my house & building an extension I had very few known knowns. After using the Housebuilder's Bible as a guide I now have no unknown unknowns & very few known unknowns. I & know how to know those.
So, if you're building or thinking of building & you feel an outbreak of Donald Rumsfeld is imminent; buy this book !
Essential reading for self-builders and project managers - By: T. J. Fairless, 05 Feb 2007 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 alllow us to select, negotiate with, & manage our architect & tradesmen. It gives realistic estimates of the main costs incurred, & highlights the potential pitfallls 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 & 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 - By: Nicholas D. Lintott, 30 Jan 2007 I have been interested in building my own house for at least 20 years & in that time I have read many books & countless magazine articles on the subject. Initiallly, most of the stuff I could find was american - often inspiring & 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 & contracts & 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 reallly knows about house building, both as a professional & a self-builder. He explains simply how houses are built, what choices there are to be made & what follows from them. Even better he explains why bulders, developers & 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 & easy to follow & cuts through the spin that various intrest groups put 'facts' & figures leaving you in a good position to make informed decisions.
For a book that contains so much information & insight, it is very easy to read & even entertaining in places & on top of that it reallly 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 & still refer to this book often - if you only buy one book on self-build this should be it.
Top Notch - By: J. Hall, 30 Jan 2007 I have Mark's previous version of this book, alll I can say is it is excellent. It gives alll the information a prospective house builder will need. It is a real eye opener but like Mark says don't let the book put you off the idea.
