“HomeOwner’s Guide to Managing the Design & Construction of Your New Home” is the tentative title of Rand Soellner’s new book. “That’s a mouthful,” said Soellner, “We may try to simplify that, if possible.” Soellner’s company, HOME ARCHITECTS (R) is planned as the publisher.
Soellner’s clients have asked him, through the years, if there was a reference manual or book that could guide them through the process. Back then, Rand had to tell them: “I don’t know of anything like that, sorry.” Until now. Soellner is busy at work, creating it.
When complete, the book will guide his clients and others through the early planning for their project, how to budget for the various aspects of the total effort, then how to find the right land to suit their needs, find their architect, then manage the design, bid their project, manage the construction and handle several follow-up phases. The book is planned as an “E-Book,” or Electronic Book, which should be available for the Kindle and several other electronic book providers the next couple of years. If a print publisher is interested in first releasing it in hardcopy, Soellner would be interested in discussing that. Soellner will also be creating a Book Store on his website at some point and have this first volume available for purchase there as a PDF download.
“My clients typically come to me, never having done this before,” explained Soellner, “I am providing a “blueprint” of sorts; a path that they can follow, to help them understand ‘what comes next.’ ” Soellner feels that this sort of guidebook should be created by a registered professional who has been designing custom homes for decades. Soellner has been a licensed architect for 30 years as of this writing and has been designing homes for over 40 years.
Soellner said that he sat down to write the outline and thought it would take him an hour and 1 page. 10 pages and 4,600 words later, he had his outline. The process is remarkably detailed, when you look at the whole effort in one place, like a book. But Soellner wants his clients and others to Be Prepared. He was a Boy Scout, when he was a child, and that motto is something that he feels will serve people well in this task.
He breaks the overall process down into simple, little steps, with all the detail one might expect of a military campaign, but written in digestible chunks that just about anyone should be able to understand. He organizes the book into 11 Major Phases. Within these phases, he has chapters. The chapters are organized as months. So as you proceed through the book, you are proceeding through time in your project, month by month. It starts with the twinkle in your eye: your wanting to have a new home and your Early Planning and ends with you Moving In to your new house, along with several follow-up chapters on Warrantees and the like. At present, there are 50 chapters and some chapters have broken down a month into several pieces, so the book’s time frame spans about 30+ months.
The first part of the book begins with Project Phase 1: EARLY HOMEOWNER PLANNING.
Month 1: Planning for Your Home Project: What Do You Want?
That sounds like a perfect place to begin: starting with what you want. The book goes into detail to help you identify these things, including where you want to live, spaces desired in your proposed home, size of the home, exterior functions, views desires, budgeting (the largest section in the whole book) and Appearance/ Style/ Aesthetics Desired. And that is just Chapter 1.
Stay tuned to this website for updates and let Rand know if you would like to preorder the e-book: Rand@HomeArchitects.com .