Holland House Press

Thinking About Building a Home?

You Need Build Your Own Home!

Take a look at Table of Contents and 2 free chapters:

Table of Contents
Chapter 4. Land Acquisition
Chapter 12. Insurance

You know you can save a lot of money if you organized the building of your home or addition. But, how do you do it?

Build Your Own Home by Jim Hasenau is the book for you.

Maybe you are a do-it-yourself person or a natural born organizer. Both are good qualities for someone considering building a home.

The paperback book “Build Your Own Home” by J. James Hasenau is subtitled “A Guide for Subcontracting the Easy Way.

From perusing the book, “the easy way”, looks difficult enough for anyone. The book can either be extremely helpful to the person who wants to subcontract his entire house himself, or will completely discourage the budding do-it-yourselfer.

St. Petersburg Times
(Review of Build Your Own Home)

Supervise the building of your own home and save thousands of dollars?

Or personally direct the construction of your worst nightmare that gobbles up several times your original budget?

The Washington Post
(Review of Build Your Own Home)

Think about this: Do you want to undertake this expensive and time-consuming project, going in cold with only the advice of a know-it-all relative or your partner? Or, would you rather have a guide written by a long-time builder?

Hasenau is a second-generation builder with over 30 years of experience building thousands of single site (single lot) homes rather than subdivision construction. He built about 35 houses per year.

Hasenau writes, “In the years of experience I have had in building, I have built many homes for people who tried it once and got too many gray hairs. I also finished many homes that people started and could not finish.”

Hasenau explains in everyday language the different operations in subcontracting to build a house or addition. No attempt is made to tell how to pound nails or do a subcontractor’s job, only what work the subcontractor should do from a builder’s point of view.

Unlike general books on housing construction – books which don’t go into the details of surveys, sewer lines, foundations, building permits, etc. – Hasenau describes in detail the various steps a builder has to follow – usually in prescribed order – to complete the house without too many hassles. Milwaukee Sentinel (Review of Build Your Own Home)

An example of problem solutions that the average person would never think of is Chapter 4, Land Acquisition (one of your two free chapters). You found the lot you want to build on; should you buy it? Do you know if you can build on it? How do you find out? Will real estate agents know if you can build on it and if you can’t will they tell you? Hasenau says, obtain a purchase agreement with an option to buy. On page 6 he gives a step-by-step description about how to do this and save yourself from purchasing a lot you cannot build on. (See the free chapter, Land Acquisition)

The building permit should be obtained, whenever possible, before the lot is purchased or as a condition of purchase to avoid deed restrictions that could interfere with building plans.

The Denver Post
(Review of Build Your Own Home)

Do you need insurance? Yes, you do! Chapter 12 explains why and describes what to buy, what to avoid, and different kinds of insurance. (See free chapter, Insurance).

Failure to obtain workman’s compensation insurance can leave the amateur builder open to huge claims if a worker is injured.

The Washington Post
(Review of Build Your Own Home)

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