Reader's Reviews
***
The book was informative and worth reading. I learned important inside information about dealing with home contractors. This alone was well worth the price of the book. His cost estimating went well beyond any other book's lessons on cost estimating. I read the cost estimating chapter first! However he only had two real examples in his cost estimating...one from his own house which was built in 1994, and one from a friend's house built in 2006. Pat, I applaud you for broaching cost estimating, but I'm hungry for more details!!!
The author was a bit of a zealot on some of his "method." Not sure such a hard line approach is feasible, however his zeal definitely gets his points across and is educational.
***
I've never written a book review before, but feel that this book is so good that I need to share my thoughts about it. I almost didn't buy this book because of its price. After reading some of the other positive reviews about the book I decided to take a chance on it. After all I'm going to be spending thousands of dollars to build my house, if this book could save me even a few hundred dollars it'd be worth it. I have over 20 other books dealing with home construction on my bookshelf, but none of them really has prepared me to start my building project. This book is different, and I feel ready and anxious to get going after reading it.
In the book Pat Fay tells you how to manage the construction process. He tells you how to find, interview and select, and then manage all the different people that will need to be involved in the process. You get guidelines on how to schedule all these people and work with the Building Department and the Building Inspector. He discusses the importance of the contract documents and the "change order", and working with the different subcontractors, and making sure you get quality construction materials. There are also sections on cost estimating and monitoring the different construction phases.
His advice if very detailed and practical. He talks about the challenges you'll like face and how to resolve them. There are lots of sample documents and checklists.
At the beginning of the book he says that after reading the book you'll feel either empowered or overwhelmed. I felt both! But, more empowered than overwhelmed. I feel building my house is going to be a huge task, and I feel ready to jump in and start the process. Thank you Pat Fay!
***
Anyone who wishes to remodel a house can benefit from this book. The contents are simply amazing in their breadth and scope.
Mr. Fay suggests being one's own contractor, but buying this book might keep many hints to controlling the terms of a hired contractor.
For anyone considering even the slightest modification or remodeling to one's house, this book is a guide to doing so in the most economical fashion.
I desired to replace my sliding-glass patio window with an oriel. This book saved me more than two hundred dollars. This was worth the price, many times over.
I highly recommend the Pat Fay Method, although the title is a bit comical. The book is rich in detail, and full of practical advice.
***
Great book! The most useful of all I purchased. Gives specific information like a breakout of his project and what it cost him at the time. Great references, like to RS Means for cost estimating. Great tips like what to expect from your contractors, what you can do yourself and what you should expect to pay more for.
The author provides direction on manually scheduling the project. I'd recommend using Microsoft Project which provides a template for home construction projects.
The author repeats himself often, this is partially due to self-protection I believe. For example he reminds you that this is just based on his experience and may not apply to your project.
Regardless, the book was more than worth the money.
***
The advice on contracting strategy and cost estimating are sound and more than worth the cost of the book. I was hoping for more information on these topics:
1) Order of construction - it is advised to only have one contractor on site at a time, but it would be useful to give a detailed order of work to be done. For instance, do you have roofer come before plumbers add stacks or can flat concrete be done at same time as foundation is poured? Are floors added before walls are painted?
2) Up to date hints on best practices for construction. It is mentioned that tar paper can be used between plywood sheathing and siding, but today most homes use oriented strand board and polymeric house wrap.
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