Book excerpt: Buying a new home can be an expensive endeavor. Many people dream of building their own home but mistakenly believe that doing so is not cost effective. However, you can save 20 to 40 percent or more by building your own home. In The Complete Guide to Building Your Own Home and Saving Thousands on Your New House you will discover that your dream can become reality. From basic planning to construction methods, this new book will take you through all the steps of building your own home. You will learn how to: choose a site, draw up a construction time line, apply for construction loans and financing, obtain essential insurance information, buy or prepare inexpensive plans, find and negotiate with subcontractors, comply with building codes, select features and fixtures, choose the style of the house, decide on the size of the rooms, and get building permits. You will learn about building materials and foundations, floors, walls, paint, windows, decks, garage doors, roofing, flashings, chimneys, plumbing, wiring, ceilings, floors, railings, and attics. In addition, you will learn how to design a home that will meet your needs, perform constructions tasks safely, and build amenities. This book will inform you about common problems to watch for, including foundation, roofing, walls, stairs, sidewalks, driveways, heating and cooling, electrical capacity, and wiring. This book will detail money-saving options and environmentally friendly techniques, while at the same time allowing you to monitor the quality of the materials and the workmanship, fine-tune the design, and make sure the results are exactly what you had envisioned. Atlantic Publishing is a small, independent publishing company based in Ocala, Florida. Founded over twenty years ago in the company president's garage, Atlantic Publishing has grown to become a renowned resource for non-fiction books. Today, over 450 titles are in print covering subjects such as small business, healthy living, management, finance, careers, and real estate. Atlantic Publishing prides itself on producing award winning, high-quality manuals that give readers up-to-date, pertinent information, real-world examples, and case studies with expert advice. Every book has resources, contact information, and web sites of the products or companies discussed.