The House You Build: Making Real-World Choices to Get the Home You Want

by Duo Dickinson

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1561586161
• ISBN13: 9781561586165
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Taunton Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 2.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 9.2" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Good for all intersted in housing design

This is a good book for both the professional and the layman. The professional will most certainly find him/herself saying, "I knew that" at some points in the book, but will also glean kernels enough to make it worth his/her time. It is written in a style that is understandable by the "common man", yet doesn't condescend to the professional. For the layman interested in good design and with a limited, realistic budget, to whom quality is greater in the equation than quantity, it is a veritable treasure trove of interesting and attainable design ideas. If you are embarking on the adventure of building a custom home, you will find inspiration and a vision of what the end goal will be. The houses in this book are representative of real world examples, which is very refreshing, nodding neither to the McMansions that are so popular in today's subdivisions, nor to their hybrid architecturally aloof cousins on the other end of the spectrum (both being ostentatious in their own right).

great book

If you are interested in alternative ideas to home building and want to get out of the big box store and track home mentality, read this book.

Helpful book for home building/remodeling

I originally got this book from the library. It was so full of good ideas and helpful advice that I decided to buy it. A wide range of house styles are covered in the book, from contemporary to more conventional, but they're all interesting. I especially liked the author's suggestions for minimizing costs while ensuring beauty and construction quality. I'm not planning to build a house, but am planning to remodel. This book is full of excellent photos and ideal solutions.

Custom Design on a Tight Budget

Most houses that you see come in two choices: First is the standard sub-division spec house, designed to not offend any possible purchaser and to not exactly fit any family; Second you might call the houses of the rich and famous, where the houses are spectactular, but they don't talk about how many hundreds of thousands they cost. This book takes a different view. It discusses houses in the $150,000 to $200,000 range that have been customed designed to fit the needs and desires of the owners. It covers some 20 houses in detail. The special conditions caused by legal restrictions, difficult building lots, everything is discussed. Of special interest is the discussion and illustration of using standard stock components, many of them industrial in intent in innovative ways to reduce the cost of the house by thousands of dollars. While doing so, the designers have been careful to integrate these components with standard structures to produce a home both inexpensive yet customized to the needs of the owner both functionally and in appearance.