How to be your own architect: Design and plan your own house or extension Paperback – December 12, 2016

If you ever get excited to see there's a WikiHow page on something you're researching, then you'll enjoy this book. If you've actually ever been in different houses before, then this book won't help you.

The book was advertised as "like new" and while the book itself is like new, the cover had a cut/slice right in the middle at an angle. That was not in the product description at all, and was quite disappointing since this was a birthday gift from my 10-year old daughter, who saved the money herself, to give to her brother..

A really good book packed with lots of useful information for the technically and not so technically minded. It is refreshing to get a book that doesn't claim to be the complete guide to anything. What has prompted me to write this review is that I received a most disappointing book called 'Make the home you love' - The complete guide to home design... blah blah blah'' by Fiona McPhillips. Don't get sucked in by these coffee table books full of pretty pictures. If you want to know the crucial parts of a build, the things to avoid and how to plan for good sustainable design and a quality build look no further than 'How to be your own architect'

It was one of several books purchased as we begin the process of house extending. It was useful and is referred to a lot.

Good book but diagrams / sketches bit hard to see !

Ovolo Books seem to have given up on the age old profession of Proof Reader.This book is littered with contextual errors, mainly references to Figures (diagrams)that either do not exist or which refer to the wrong diagram. So far I have found at least 8 and I am just over half way through. Try to find Figure 4.15 for instance. It does not exist.Also, I do not want to waste my time turning over several pages backwards and forwards to try to find the correct diagram to match the text reference. In the first couple of chapters there are several places where the Figures referred to are pages away from the text. There seems to have been little thought in marrying the text with the diagrams.Last but not least. This is not a "new" book, although published as such in 2012. As I read through the first few chapters I got the sense that the author was not that switched on to current thinking on construction methods, especially when I came to the reference on page 106 referring to PIF construction that "Beco claims by 2010 its system will result in heat losses 30-45% lower than the standard". Which standard was that? Probably 2004! I suspect that this is an old edition that has been "recycled" by Ovolo. Usually publishers mention the original edition's publishing date but Ovolo appear to have missed that off, although their, and George Baxter's, copyright marks are dated 2012. Are they just trying to cash in on the current Self Build wave of enthusiasm?If you want lists of the different features used by architects to add "design" (mainly pre-Victorian details) then this book may be up your street but its' subtitle is "Be Your Own Architect", and this book will certainly not help you to replicate the 7 years training that RIBA requires (BTW I am not in anyway linked to the architectural profession or building trade, I am a customer for their services). Rather than wasting your money on this book you would be better off going to the Association of Self Build Architects website [...] and downloading their instructions on how to prepare a Design Brief for free. How to Design and Plan a House or Extension: Be Your Own ArchitectHow to Design and Plan a House or Extension: Be Your Own Architect

Good book