The House You Build: Making Real-World Choices to Get the Home You Want FROM THE PUBLISHER
Until now, homeowners have had to choose between the twin worlds of budget-friendly mediocrity and unaffordable fantasy. Responding to this gap, acclaimed architect Duo Dickinson demonstrates that a customhouse doesn't depend on a fabulous price tag. The House You Build offers a third way of building that is grounded in the realities of time and money, but focuses on your fondest hopes and dreams. Here are 20 real-world situations where unique and imaginative homes were built on real-life budgets. When you build on a budget, there are no right answers, only careful choices. There are 20 dreams in this book, and these dreams came true. The House You Build is the first book of architect-designed homes that presents the real costs of their construction including design fees, the Six Rules on Getting What You Want (and can afford), a broad range of house styles from all over the country, and homes that accommodate a wide variety of lifestyles.
SYNOPSIS
In a book published jointly with The American Institute of Architects, an award-winning Connecticut-based architect/author presents 20 projects illustrating that having one's dream home built by a contractor is feasible without having a millionaire's budget. Dickinson offers home site and floor plans, color photographs, and tips on choosing materials to maximize value while minimizing cost. The featured homes incorporate diverse styles and design challenges, from customizing factory-built housing to a passive solar design. 9.5x11". Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
An architect with numerous books and articles to his credit, Dickinson (Small Houses for the Next Century) believes that one can have a custom house built for the price of a common "off the rack" spec house. Less can be more as long as the plan is carefully designed to fit the owner's lifestyle (the typical new home is oversized so that it can be everything to every buyer). To support this contention, Dickinson offers 19 homes as examples. In some cases, cheaper commercial-grade materials are used throughout, or lower-grade materials are used on the second or third stories where they won't be easily seen. Each section includes a wealth of information about the house and shows how it meets its owner's needs while saving money; entries also include budget information and floor plans. Although not exactly cheap, these homes are much less expensive than the typical custom homes featured elsewhere, but as the numerous color photos attest, they are just as beautiful. Dickinson's book seems more responsible than many architectural titles because it celebrates the designer's ingenuity more than the customer's vanity. Kodis (Blueprint Small: Creative Ways To Live with Less) takes a similar tack, showing readers how to build a custom house on a budget using a 15-item "Affordability Checklist" that encourages simplification, recycling, and the use of local materials. The ten homes featured seem more down-to-earth than those presented by Dickinson but are certainly attractive (and their comparative simplicity may actually appeal to some readers). Kodis includes a wealth of information about the savings achieved by using certain materials. The numerous color photos include a tiny floor plan showing the camera angle, which is a nice touch. Both titles are excellent additions to larger collections, although Kodis's book will better serve do-it-yourselfers. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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