Q + A

We do not have $600k for every homeowner in America and Canada but the Pat Fay Method book teaches the homeowner how to save $600,000 in the construction of a 3,000 square foot house in 2024. All you need to do is decide to manage the construction process yourself, buy a copy of the book, read it, and do not hire a standard general contractor.

This statement is a myth. You can have good to excellent quality at $200/square foot (sf). Please see the discussion on quality in the Construction page. Think about it though; what else can a contractor say but to play down the Pat Fay Method. He will not come out and say that he is charging you too much for your construction project. Besides, going to your contractor is like asking the fox to guard the hen house. Will you believe the contractor who wants to charge you $1.2 million for a standard 3,000 SF ($400/SF) house or Pat Fay, a professional engineer with experience building over 800 houses who only wants $40 from you for his book which teaches you how to build that same 3,000 SF for $200/sf house (for $600,000) with good to excellent quality. Ask yourself the following question: does good to excellent quality really cost an extra $600,000? Please see the discussion on what quality means in home construction.

Ms. Floyd wrote on Amazon: ‘Bought this book when our contractor abandoned the building of our home. It had a lot of useful information in it. Enough to let me know that I didn’t want to tackle the job on my own. I think an able person could handle a remodel, but a house is a whole other level of complication and I wouldn’t recommend trying it on your own’.

If you think you can or you think you cannot; you are right.

After you read the book and you feel that managing your home construction project is beyond you then still follow the Pat Fay Method process to manage your general contractor. At the very least the homeowner needs an addendum to the contract that defines the quality of materials, how change orders will be managed, what is the schedule, and much more.

Mr. Bastrop asked where is the order of construction in the book? The order of construction can be found on page 254 in the book in the Low Level Detailed Schedule. It should have been in a more prominent place in the book. Please go to the Construction page to see the Order of Construction.

Mr. Bastrop commented in his review on Amazon that in the book I say that tar paper should be used over the plywood sheathing before siding is installed. He stated that contractors now are not using plywood but rather oriented strand board (OSB) and then polymeric house wrap. This is an excellent comment because OSB board is an inferior product to plywood. It rots when it gets wet. My framing contractor used plywood on my house except for a couple of areas where OSB was installed. I did not want OSB on my house but I let my contractor convince me that it would be fine and he said OSB is as good as plywood. Fast forward 25 years and the trim around our kitchen window rotted out and water got under the siding and tar paper. When I removed the siding and exposed the sheathing the section of OSB was rotted away but the plywood right next to the OSB was wet but still strong and undamaged. Yet now almost every house I see under construction has OSB installed on the exterior sheathing and even the roof. I believe this is a terrible practice. When water gets under the tar paper or Tyvex then the OSB will rot. OSB is a little less expensive than plywood so the contractor makes more money. Occasionally I see a house still being built with plywood. Bravo for those homeowners and their contractor.