After forty-five years in the front lines of the construction industry, I thought it would be a good idea to share some very intimate secrets with people who are about to embark on one of the most exciting experiences of a lifetime; building your dream home.

Perhaps it is a retirement gift to yourselves, after many years of hard work, maybe a vacation retreat. Possibly that first giant step toward building the wonderful place for family, where your kids will grow up and/or your children and grand children will come to visit, years hence.

I thought that if I shared these ideas, I could enlighten people, help them with an overview of the entire construction process, in simple detail, without a lot of technical jargon. Just an easy to read handbook, an outline that people could follow. Something useful, like a guidebook you buy to explore vacation ideas. Why not make it easy for anybody to understand, even if they didn't know anything about construction?

Many people are confused and discouraged by technicalities when they pick up a book that is supposed to enlighten, only to be left in complete dismay at their lack of understanding about a subject for which they crave more knowledge.

Construction of anything is a very complex undertaking, and a very technical subject. So some books written to instruct people on the finer points of construction tend to be nearly mysterious to those with little or no experience. Don't be intimidated! This book will explain the "nitty gritty" you need to know in simplistic terms that will enlighten.

There is no doubt in my mind, that you are driven to seek knowledge which will enable you to avoid experiencing the kind of horror stories you have heard. By the time you make the decision to go ahead with a construction project, you have likely been deluged with advice from friends and relatives who have taken the plunge and who kindly wish to share their disastrous experiences with anybody they can get to listen.

So then of course, it is off to the library or bookstore for you, to find just the right treatise that will instruct you in the fine arts of hand-to-hand construction combat, or guide you safely and happily through the mine fields of the actual building process. If you read enough and talk to enough people, you will know what to do, and what to expect, right? After all, knowledge is power!

It has been my experience with my clientele, that building can be fun and enjoyable if:

This book was written to guide you through the entire process and be happy with the end results. Not only with the product, but also the people you have been dealing with over a period of several months. In other words, your story will have a 'happy ending'.

I doubt if this book is a first, but it is intended to be a simplified guidance system to lead you around usually unforeseen and oftentimes avoidable problems and to introduce you to methods of coping with those nasty necessities you must take head on.

Who This Book Is For:
This book is for people who would like to build their dream house without getting old before their time. People who would like to avoid falling into the traps or 'pits' that seem to be the norm. But you don't have to fall into a 'pit' just because someone you know dug themselves into one.

I will refer to these pitfalls (avoidable misunderstandings), as 'pits' throughout this book. If you are armed with the knowledge of what to expect in advance, then you will not be shocked to learn of some surprise (often in the form of unforeseen expense) that awaits you. Instead, you will be one of the anointed who can boast of a truly enjoyable adventure in building.

So many single women have related to me, the difficulties they have had to endure attempting to go it alone, that I would include them as a special category. Other people with little or no experience in building, singles and married alike, and those who would like a different slant on the home building subject, even though they have done it all before. If this book can keep you out of one 'pit', then it has been a worthwhile effort for me.

What This Book Is Not:
This is not just another "How To" book. You will not find instructions for building a fireplace or creating a basement recreation room in these pages.

There is not one single hint about hanging an overhead garage door, or how to install ceramic tile in a shower. It is not a technical journal nor anything remotely resembling a text book.

If you are looking for that kind of information, it is available at a nearby library or in booklet form at a local building supply company.

This book is not necessarily intended as a guide for those bold and hearty souls who want to be their own general contractor, (though for some it would serve as a useful checklist). Them I salute. If they feel confident and have had some experience in the construction industry or the trades, then they already know the routine.

The construction industry, so often maligned, has been my chosen field of endeavor, my life's work. And though I have met some unscrupulous contractors, and read about the worst and most sensational scandals in the newspapers, I believe most contractors are honest, hard working and certainly as dedicated a segment of American industry as exists in the business community today.

After all the hype over other kinds of scandals in the business world; insider stock trading; savings and loan 'failures'; junk bond swindles; embezzling by accountants and book keepers; outright thievery by lawyers; criminal neglect by health care professionals; plundering by political thugs in our most revered public offices; then I do not think the construction industry comes out looking too badly.

This book is not an exposé. I am not turning over any flat rocks. If you like that sort of 'entertainment' just turn on the TV News.