Four field manuals that go through each and every part of building a home: land, design, permits, foundation, framing, trades, finishes, costs and utilities. They cover many kinds of build, including stick-built, timber frame, panel and SIP, steel and kit homes, and the different power, water, septic, heating and cooling systems each one can run on.
“The Foundation made me walk the parcel a second time before I made an offer. The chapter on soil, slope and drainage is the reason I passed on the cheaper lot.”
Glenn T.58, Snohomish, Washington
“I had budgeted off the kit price alone. The Real Cost has a chapter on what a kit leaves out, and it showed me the rest of the bill before the lender did.”
Diane M.61, Grass Valley, California
“Frame to Finish lists the questions to ask a kit company. I sent them to three suppliers. Only one answered every question, and that is who I ordered from.”
Russ K.64, Hilo, Hawaii
Instant download · Yours forever
The excavator never talks to the framer. The framer is gone before the plumber arrives. The lender, the inspector and the kit company each see one slice of the job, and you are the only person who sees all of it.
Most owner-builders learn that order by getting it wrong once: land bought before the soil was tested, a kit ordered before the foundation was priced, a budget built from an advertised number that left out freight, labour and the cost of the loan itself.
Everything above the ground can be repaired. Everything below it is a decision you make once.
These four manuals follow the sequence of a real build. Each chapter ends where the next trade begins. The checklists are written to be used on site, the tables give you a range to test a quote against, and every figure is there so you can recognise an answer that is obviously wrong and ask a better question.
They work for any home you intend to build or have built: a barndominium, a kit home, a timber frame, a dome, or an ordinary stick-built house on a rural lot.
| Videos and forums | The Blueprint | |
|---|---|---|
| Order | Whatever the algorithm serves next | The sequence of a real build, parcel to punch list |
| Land | “Check zoning” and little else | Five chapters on reading a parcel before you make an offer |
| Kit prices | The advertised number | What a kit includes, what it leaves out, and how to read the quote |
| Budget | National averages | A method for building your own number from local quotes |
| On site | Notes scattered across your phone | Printable field checklists gathered in the appendices |
| Utilities | Sized by a salesperson | Solar, water and septic sized from your own meter readings |
The Better Home Blueprint is a set of four field manuals for people who intend to build a home once and live in it for decades. The books are written in plain language, illustrated with diagrams prepared for this edition, and organised in the order the work happens.
They do not replace your building department, your engineer or your lender. They prepare you for those conversations, so you know which questions to ask, what a complete answer looks like, and when a number you have been given is out of range.
The sequence of a build is the same everywhere. Codes, frost depths, permit rules and prices are local, and the books say so on every page that gives a number. They show you which office or professional holds the governing answer for your site and what to ask them.
Most of it is, in several hundred videos and forum threads, in no particular order, with nobody telling you which step depends on which. You are paying for the sequence and for the checklists and tables being in one place.
They are digital, so there is no printing or shipping to pay for. The four volumes cost $73.98 bought one at a time, and the set is priced so that taking all four is the easy choice.
PDF. Checkout is handled by Gumroad, and the download link arrives on screen and by email as soon as payment clears. The files open on a phone, tablet or computer, and you can print the checklists.
Yes. The Foundation and Frame to Finish are $27 each, and The Real Cost and The Self-Sufficient Home are $9.99 each. Any two of the larger volumes already cost more than the full set.
No. The manuals cover land, permits, foundations, structural systems, kits, trades, finishes, costs and utilities for any owner-built or owner-managed home.
No. The books assume you are intelligent and new to this. Terms are defined when they first appear, and each volume ends with a glossary.
Instant download · Yours forever
One book, or all four for $29.99.
All four manuals cost less than two of them bought singly.
Land, build, cost and systems: 388 pages, one order of operations.
Get All Four — $29.99Instant download · Yours forever
Better Home Blueprint