This book was offered either cheaply or free on Kindle, and I picked it up a few months ago -- finally read it yesterday. Written by a fellow who calls himself only "The Chubby Builder", it's a GREAT BOOK!

It reminds me of another book I enjoyed a great deal: Better Houses, Better Living by Myron Ferguson. While Ferguson's book is more about the ergonomics of interior layout and the Chubby Builder's book is about putting a house together, they're both written in an "everyman voice" and share a tone.

Positives:

- The author writes for a layperson who is embarking on building for the first time. He assumes intelligence and interest but no specialized knowledge about building.

- At every point, he pushes the concept of "doing your homework" and making informed decisions. Equally importantly, he gives examples of how to make good decisions; for example, he recounted a story about a couple who found a great deal on a perfect lot -- and how he warned them that the lot probably had a lot of rocks under ground -- and how the couple ended up paying $$$$$ to deal with those rocks later.

- He discusses basic topics such as how to choose a lot, how to choose a builder, how to enter into a contract ... and also specific products that you want to choose /avoid.

- He put into words some things I've thought but haven't clearly defined; for example, I've often said I find an exterior "too busy"; he clarifies this, saying that houses with more than three vertical elements on the front can appear "too busy". Yeah, that clarifies and quantifies what I've been thinking.

- The last half of the book is made up of definitions; for this reason, the paperback version might be more valuable than the Kindle version I have -- at least it'd be easier to access on the spot.

Negatives:

- Though the man writes as if he didn't finish elementary school. He lacks a solid grasp of punctuation, and more than a few times I read a passage only to ask myself, "What did that mean?" and had to go back and re-read. Yes, I am a stickler for grammar, but anyone's going to notice his lack of editing.

- The book is a collection of one man's experiences; thus, by definition, it is limited in scope. He is from Tennessee, so his experiences all draw from this area of the country. To give one example of this as a limitation, he assumes that every house will have a basement foundation.

- He gives only a slightly nod to design; instead, he analyzes how a house is built, assuming you already have a house plan.

- The book contains no images at all, and they would've been welcome.