Remove any Donald Rumsfeld from your life - Rated 
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 - Rated
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 - Rated
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.
Top Notch - Rated
I have Mark's previous version of this book, all I can say is it is excellent. It gives all 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.
Selfbuilders - If you do nothing else - buy this and read it - Rated
It's very simple - do not attempt to start planning the self-build or major renovation of anything more than a broom cupboard under the stairs (and it's probably worth the cover price for even that!) until you have bought this book and read it from cover to cover at least twice. I have half a dozen other "home building" books and this is the one I always go back to. Not for nothing is it called the Housebuliders "Bible". It doesn't set out to tell you how to project manage building a house. HOWEVER, it's written in such a way that I learnt enough from an earlier edition of this book to do exactly that. It DOES tell you how much it might all end up costing and how to keep control over the costs when you are project managing - or more importantly - someone else is project managing the work. By dissecting each part of the build process from planning all the way through to putting up curtains it gives you an excellent idea of what's involved when you build a house and as I've said controlling the single most important issue which is cost - and trust me on this - controlling costs IS the number one issue you will face. Recommended.
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