General guidance only — all construction work must be overseen by a supervising engineer This handbook is compiled from standards and laws with every source cited, andis being reviewed for certification by engineers Use it to know what to look at, what to ask and what evidence to request on site It is not an engineering determination and can't replace an engineer · Terms of use · Limitations of the handbook

Before construction and preparing the land

Budget, finance and choosing a contractor

Page code P34 · 38 inspection criteria · 3 illustrations

This whole book teaches you how to inspect work, but no amount of inspection skill helps if you pick the wrong people at the start or run out of money halfway. Most houses that never get finished don't stop because the work is bad — they stop because the money runs out before the work is done. The good news about this page is that everything on it can be done…

This page contains
The cost of building a house has three parts — and people usually count only the first
Comparing quotations from several contractors — how to make them truly comparable
The bank's money and the contractor's instalments don't follow the same line
Choosing a contractor — three things you can actually verify
Insurance during construction — something people think they already have
The order to do things in, before stage 0

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