Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)For those who have seen Jay's houses on Yahoo! or otherwise and want more information, you might consider this book. I said "might." Jay goes through his history of living in small homes, and then goes on a bender about why small homes are preferable to large ones, why people who design large homes and large neighborhoods are poo-poo heads, calls a few architects pretentious and arrogant, then goes on to talk mostly about how to go about designing these homes in architectural terms.
There is useful information, such as how to legally build and live in one of these homes in your area, though the topic isn't exhausted by any means. He also discusses the general building process, but if anything his youtube videos or his website are more detailed.
It's just...Mr. Shafer is preaching to the choir. By the time you've bought a $36 book, you've got your own ideas about why you should build a tiny house. What you want to know is the nuts and bolts. What kind of solar and batteries to buy and how to manage them; how to plumb the house; how to downsize your lifestyle (what to get rid of, what to keep and what to get); things of that nature that just aren't present in a real way. Jay is writing for the home designer, not the homeowner. So if you buy his plans, he's writing a book that's mostly intended for himself.
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