Everything You Need to Know About Building the Custom Home: How to Be Your Own General Contractor
The focus of this book is on the legal and financial nuts and bolts of homebuilding such as securing a loan, negotiating with bankers and tradespeople, reviewing contracts, and gauging insurance needs. In these areas, this guide is detailed to a fault, listing--in one instance--the 50 possible title defects against which title insurance provides protection. Briefer coverage is afforded the construction process, although the book does provide a useful review and checklist of the stages of construction. Absent is any description of the actual work involved at each stage or tips on evaluating such work. While this is a worthy addition to larger building or real estate collections, smaller libraries may want something more inclusive like Dave McGuerty and Kent Lester's The Complete Guide to Contracting Your Home ( LJ 9/1/86).- Bill Demo, Tompkins Cortland Community Coll., Dryden, N.Y.Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.