It’s been some time since I posted – but – I don’t want you to think I was just lazing around (well, ok, maybe I was for a bit).

BUT – I did need some time to get through this book, The Complete Home Building Guidebook, written by Howard A. Zuckerman.

Why did it take so long?  Let me tell you – it’s a BIG book!  It has 513 pages of information packed from cover-to-cover.

I can tell that Mr. Zuckerman has both real-world experience in the industry – AND – experience teaching at the graduate level by going through this book.

The book is laid out more like a college textbook than most industry books that have been released in the past few years.  That means, though, that you don’t need to read it cover-to-cover to learn from it.

Instead, you can go to the chapter that meets your needs for the time – and – you’re sure to find information that is useful to you – including examples of forms, drawings, checklists, and more.

The copyright shows 2018 – but – don’t let the date fool you.  The principles that Mr. Zuckerman covers are timeless and applicable to anyone in the industry.  It’s essentially what I had in mind when I started this website all put into one book.

He does have a website for the book:  LearnHomeBuilding.com that, I believe, was meant to develop over time (due to references inside the book itself) – but – has remained primarily as a spot to order the book (side note:  thank goodness – so I can keep developing this site….maybe one day he’ll want to sell that domain name and let me point it to this site).

Sure – there are a few checklists and forms that may not be used in today’s technology-driven society; however, the concepts are solid and helpful.  And – let’s face it – there are still a lot of homebuilding folks who are, um, tech-wary.

Read on for more thoughts on this book.

Some Topics Covered in the book

Mr. Zuckerman does a nice job addressing questions that anyone new to the industry might have, and he has a way to address those questions in his chapters.  Every time I’d think to myself “yeah, but what about …..,” I’d find that other thing in another chapter.

His Construction Glossary at the back of the book is massive – and – I’m thankful he’s given me the permission to add his terms to my Incredible Growing Home Building Glossary on this site (but I haven’t gotten too far adding these yet).

Samples and examples of different forms are throughout the book.  Pictures, too.  Some chapters are nothing but checklists and examples.  But he makes it easy to find them in his table of contents.

I think he’s missing an opportunity to have a separate Study Guide and/or supplemental files that he could sell with the book to make it a little more interactive than it is right now – but – that could come sometime in the future (or maybe a cross-promotion product with me…..hint, hint, Mr. Zuckerman).

I also noted that he listed several of the popular homebuilding software programs that existed at the time (and, ahem, I noticed that my day-job company WAS among them – so – extra points for that).

Final note/Full Disclosure:  Mr. Zuckerman provided this book to me free-of-charge for an honest review.

You can purchase the book from his website (link above).  There is NO affiliate payment to me for any orders of his book.

Who is Howard A. Zuckerman anyway?

Chances are good that you might not know who Howard A. Zuckerman is.  I mean – he’s not active on many social media sites.  He doesn’t promote industry conferences.

But Google his name and you’ll see that he has authored several books for this industry.  He’s spent over 40 years in this industry – and – per his book intro, he’s built over 1,000 new homes in his career.

So, he’s been around the block and have seen some homebuilding economy cycles in that long and tenured career.  And, like me, he wants to share his experiences and knowledge with others.