[.ca] The Home Renovation Workbook with Other (ISBN 0811827682)

From Amazon.com:
Any home-renovation project--whether it's building a dream home from the ground up, remodeling the kitchen, or redecorating a child's room--is a complex job with hundreds of details that need to be thought through, planned for, and tracked. The Home Renovation Workbook is a project-management binder created to guide you, step by step, through such complex projects. The author, a writer who renovated her own northern California home herself, provides all the tools you need, including graph paper, glossaries, checklists, conversion tables, and useful resources. Divided into five core sections that mirror the renovation process itself--"Plan," "Schedule," "Budget," "Design," and "Work"--this handy workbook will help you navigate the job from conception to final product. "Plan" encourages you to begin by creating a wish list and then to get practical by setting priorities. "Schedule" offers calendar forms that allow you to map out the project, while helpful time estimates let you gauge how long each phase will take. Worksheets in "Budget" help you compare bids, record final budgets, and track actual expenses. "Design" includes sturdy design boards that let you paste up and evaluate paint and fabric ideas for each room. "Work" explains what you should expect from architects, contractors, designers, and other key players and how best to negotiate their agreements and manage those relationships. Finally, "Resources" includes a glossary of common building terms and points you toward many valuable sources for additional information--from associations that list architects and interior designers to Web sites that provide interactive budgeting tools. Though the book's construction doesn't quite live up to its claims that it is "designed for heavy use," it is a truly useful reference filled with expert tips and advice, as well as lots of handy tools to help you plan and execute your home-renovation project without a hitch. --Robin Donovan

Just purchased and it looks great!:
My only reservation so far is ALL the copying of forms to make the book more re-useable (btw this is suggested in the book). Be sure and turn up the darkness setting on the copier, because the pages are printed in very light colors. OK, so what about the rest of the book? It looks fantastic. It encourages the reader to carefully consider all the steps of a home improvement project. So far it has really made me focus on the important issues of cost and scheduling. Worth the money? I say yes!

It's OK, as far as it goes:
I read through this book after reading Diane Plesset's book, "THE Survival Guide: Home Remodeling", and was somewhat disapointed in the content of this book. Yes, there are questionairs, but Ms. Plesset's are more complete. Yes, there are cost guides, but again, Ms. Plesset's are more complete. The general tone of the book is that of an "expert" talking to a "beginner". I would rather have a conversational style that doesn't talk down to me. . . I'm glad to have this book, but if I had only one to purchase, that purchase would be the other one.