How To Design Build Your Own House

Nearly eight hundred drawing enhance step-by-step instructions in every aspect and phase of planning and constructing one's own home.

If you’ve ever dreamt of designing and building your own home, this book is for you. Becoming a ‘self-builder’ doesn’t necessarily mean learning to build a house physically from scratch. Anyone can be a self-builder – you can do so without ever having to lay a brick yourself. Self-built homes can also be more individual, better designed and more economical than buying from a developer. This book is designed for homeowners and self-builders, whether aspiring or on the brink of starting a project. It provides a jargon-free, step-by-step guide to the process of designing and building your own home, distilling all of the practical information needed to make your dream house a reality. Carefully crafted to offer friendly, easy-to-understand practical guidance and packed with watch points, hints and tips, it also highlights the potential pitfalls and suggests ways of avoiding them. Including indications of costs and timescales, Self-build demystifies the process of budgeting, finding a site, gaining planning permission, designing your home and all of the surrounding issues to do with sustainability, planning, regulations, procurement and the use of building contracts. Beautifully illustrated with over 230-colour photos, diagrams and plans, it provides all the inspiration and ideas you need to bring your own project to life. Featured houses include: Amphibious House by Baca Architects Corten Courtyard House by Barefoot Architects Haringey Brick House by Satish Jassal Architects Shawm House by Mawson Kerr Architects Sussex House by Wilkinson King Architects The Pocket House by Tikari Works Architects.

Keep construction on track with helpful checklists Turn your dream of a custom home into reality! Thinking about building your own home? This easy-to-follow guide shows you how to plan and build a beautiful home on any budget. From acquiring land to finding the best architect to overseeing the construction, you get lots of savvy tips on managing your new investment wisely -- and staying sane during the process! Discover how to: * Find the best homesite * Navigate the plan approval process * Obtain financing * Hire the right contractor * Cut design and construction costs * Avoid common mistakes

A #1 best seller for years, Bill Hirsch's Designing Your Perfect House: Lessons from an Architect has been called an essential read for Homeowners as well as Professionals. Bill's flowing style of writing makes you feel like you are sitting with him having a chat about your project. The philosophy behind design decisions is explained with stories, photos, sketches, and checklists. The book is divided into Twelve Lessons, with an additional Bonus Lesson ," Building Green, Naturally". You will learn how to evaluate your needs and work towards creating a suitable design, perfect for you and your family. The experience of home design and construction should be controllable, gratifying and enjoyable. With the valuable advice that Designing Your Perfect House: Lessons from an Architect provides, it can be.

Pretty Good House provides a framework and set of guidelines for building or renovating a high-performance home that focus on its inhabitants and the environment--but keeps in mind that few people have pockets deep enough to achieve a "perfect" solution. The essential idea is for homeowners to work within their financial and practical constraints both to meet their own needs and do as much for the planet as possible. A Pretty Good House is: * A house that's as small as possible * Simple and durable, but also well designed * Insulated and air-sealed * Above all, it is affordable, healthy, responsible, and resilient.

The much-anticipated follow-up to the E. B. White Award-winning picture book If I Built a Car In If I Built a Car, imaginative Jack dreamed up a whimsical fantasy ride that could do just about anything. Now he's back and ready to build the house of his dreams, complete with a racetrack, flying room, and gigantic slide. Jack's limitless creativity and infectious enthusiasm will inspire budding young inventors to imagine their own fantastical designs. Chris Van Dusen's vibrant illustrations marry retro appeal with futuristic style as he, once again, gives readers a delightfully rhyming text that absolutely begs to be read aloud.

At a time when housing costs and interest rates have put the Australian dream of owning a house beyond the reach of many people, Bob Rich and Keith Smith show how even the most impractical person can learn to build their own home. The authors were not originally skilled craftsmen and they use their personal experiences, successes and failures to explain the building and design processes to beginners. Their approach is practical and analytical, but their language is straightforward and dynamic. The book covers a wide range of topics including: how to be your own architect and create energy efficient housing designs safeguarding the house from bushfires, cyclones and floods footings, floors, roofs, doors and windows mudbrick, rammed earth, stone and weatherboard walls building skills such as measuring, sawing, hammering, bricklaying and glass cutting information, advice and personal experiences from a variety of other builders

The Classic Blueprint for Do-It-Yourself Homebuilders Updated to Reflect the Latest Materials,Techniques, and Options! Covering everything from hiring the right vendors to choosing fixtures, this information-packed guide is a step-by-step roadmap for building a new home or remodeling an existing one. The heavily-revised Fourth Edition focuses on the latest technologies, materials, money-saving options, and environmentallyfriendly methods, allowing homeowners to save money, get more for their money, maximize their usable space, decrease maintenance costs, and choose from an exciting array of new options. With this book, homeowners will be able to: Select and prepare a site Make informed decisions about construction, framing, foundations and layouts Plan for home office use Design or remodel a home that will serve their specific needs, perform construction tasks safely and efficiently Install the newest and most economical types of insulation, roofing, plumbing, and wiring Build amenities such as decks and patios, sidewalks and driveways, make do it yourself vs. subcontracting decisions, plan their move