Book Review: Building an Affordable House

Taunton Press was nice enough to send me a package of books that might be of interest to all us thrifty homeowners. I review the first one I read below.

Fernando Pages Ruiz, a builder with experience constructing affordable homes, is the author of Building An Affordable House: A Smart Guide to High-Value, Low-Cost Construction. As you might imagine, the book reads like a step-by-step overview of how to create an affordable house (but that doesn't look like one). Ruiz goes over numerous ways to save money by using alternative materials and non-traditional methods. The version I read was from 2004, and so that some costs and analysis might be outdated is to be expected. Besides that, I imagine that everything else in this book is still very valid. It's a little over 200 pages in full color, and its presentation is very attractive (though some of the photos do look like they are from 1984).

Personally, I learned not only these tips, but also some more about the general construction of a house.But since most of us aren't professional homebuilders, is this book a worthwhile read? While this book is of particular use to those in the building industry, homeowners will find it to be of use as well, as much of the contents are applicable to us when we look to replace something in our homes. For instance, I just had my driveway redone, but if I had read this book before that, I might have had a different perspective on my choice of materials.