Building Your Home: A Simple Guide to Making Good Decisions

I only wish I had this book sooner. It came out at the end of my 25 years in the design and construction industry. Or I would have used it as a manuel with every homeowner I have ever built with. I feel like we finally have a simple way to translate and navigate the often confusing process and verbage of construction. It's almost like a translater. And the lists are amazing. And the examples of all the different surface choices are such an easy way to decide options. It is the best gift you can give someone who is in any stage of planning or construction.

I actually bought this book after using a library book for awhile because it's useful enough as a workbook to be well worth the cost, especially compared to the amount I'm about to spend on a major home remodel. I still give it 3 stars because the lack of the accompanying app because I'm not cool enough to have an iPhone becomes more annoying the further into the book you get, but the book is entirely usable without it. Hopefully the author will remedy the problem soon and make an android app available.The book helps immensely with all the practical aspects. For example, until working through this book it hadn't occurred to me what a nuisance it would be to not have a side door. We've never had a side door but the remodel, while adding a lot of wonderful features, is also moving the back door far away from the kitchen leaving no convenient way to haul in groceries. Thankfully we caught this before we got any further and added a side door. Small thing but over decades of grocery shopping will be a huge life improvement. :)I highly recommend getting about a dozen books from the library and the choosing the most useful to purchase. I'm quite certain the $100 I spent on books has saved me immensely more money as well as frustration.

I'm still years away from building my home, but this book is already so useful! It has me thinking about all sorts of practical things I would have overlooked. I love how it is designed like a workbook, so it feels like Kristina Leigh is assisting in the process by creating a sturdy foundation onto which I can develop my own goals and ideas. I'm so grateful to have a book like this as a guide!

Even though I have not completed this book, I felt the need to write a review. I probably would have given 5 stars if it wasn't for all the references to the app that doesn't even work. I purchased the app and started adding photos to it, but gave up on it because it kept getting stuck. I had to uninstall it and then reinstall and then have to sign in again each time. It became such as hassle. Does she not know the app does not work? Another customer review said that the app is not necessary and I agree because I found it a bit limited. So you would need more than the book and the app to complete your home planning process. So those of you who have noted in your reviews that you don't own an iPhone, don't worry about it. You don't need it even if it somehow works for some. There are plenty of products than can be used along with this book.

Nuts and bolts method to designing any space! Although I am not designing a home, I purchased this book for its simple approach to understanding, appreciating, and capitalizing on any area of my home.I wish, however, that I would have had this great resource when designing my home 20 years ago! So many costly mistakes could have been avoided!

I expected a little more insight. There were some good tips, but I really didn't feel I got the value for the cost. It's nice that space was included for lists, but there was too much white space and it really seemed like this could have been condensed and used less resources as well.

This book does the work for you - it's incredible. It thinks ahead for you, to keep the decision making simple. I'm building a house, and used this book to guide me through the process. It would have been a completely different outcome had I not used this book. The worksheets make it simple, and Wiggins highlights danger zones and is always one step ahead. I can't recommend it enough.

I wanted to love this book. Perhaps I went into it with too-high expectations.Throughout this book the author references her iPhone app and how that's the key to staying organized and making good decisions in the home building process. The book even includes numerous pictures of people using the app, or an iPhone to drive home the point. I did not realize when I bought the book that an iPhone was required to implement the ideas in the book. The author states that the app takes the place of a binder to organize information. It would have been very helpful if she had included instructions in the book for people who don't own and iPhone to create their own binder of information to stay organized.Also note that the app costs money, which is fine because it's probably a great app, but just be aware that the price of the book is not the full price because the book is incomplete without the app.The book has some great advice but it's spread fairly thin as a result of the 'workbook-style' text with lots of bank lines for you to fill in.In several places it also felt like the advice was focused at parents, particularly parents of young children. This would have been fine if there was also advice aimed at people who are anywhere else on the life-stages spectrum and seemed to be a glaring omission that there isn't any advice aimed at people who are interested in aging in place, especially since most people spend a whole lot more time being old than having young children at home. Alternatively, the book could be re-titled "Building your home for young children", or "A simple guide for parents to make good decisions".All in all, the book is ok. I'm just grumpy because it felt like a long advertisement for something I can't buy because I don't have an iPhone and while the author impresses on the reader the critical importance of staying organized she does not provide any real guidance on how to do that other than "buy my app!".