Good books on self build project management?

[Rachieble]

I’m fairly experienced building things like extensions but haven’t ever done a full PM build so far and i’d like to take that on next time. I was wondering if there were any good books anyone would recommend that are something like ‘self build manual’ or ‘self build for beginners’ -but definitely with a UK slant as I want to build a brick house. Something that sort of covers the order of everything simply, just so I can get my head around what I’d really be taking on? 

[Thorfun]

Brinkley’s self build bible was my go-to book

[Rachieble]

5 hours ago, Thorfun said:

Brinkley’s self build bible was my go-to book

Thanks

[Bancroft]

6 hours ago, Thorfun said:

Brinkley’s self build bible was my go-to book

+1

 

[Gone West]

10 hours ago, Rachieble said:

I was wondering if there were any good books anyone would recommend that are something like ‘self build manual’ or ‘self build for beginners’ -but definitely with a UK slant as I want to build a brick house.

I've got half a dozen books from when I designed and built my own house. I don't use them any longer, so if some or all are of any use to you I can send them to you. If you donate a tenner to BuildHub that would cover P&P. The titles are:-

 

Building Your Own Home by David Snell

The Green Building Bible 4th Edition Volumes 1 & 2 by Keith Hall

The Green Self Build Book by Jon Broome

The Energy Efficient Home by Patrick Waterfield

The New Autonomous House by Brenda & Robert Vale

[Rachieble]

2 hours ago, Gone West said:

I've got half a dozen books from when I designed and built my own house. I don't use them any longer, so if some or all are of any use to you I can send them to you. If you donate a tenner to BuildHub that would cover P&P. The titles are:-

 

Building Your Own Home by David Snell

The Green Building Bible 4th Edition Volumes 1 & 2 by Keith Hall

The Green Self Build Book by Jon Broome

The Energy Efficient Home by Patrick Waterfield

The New Autonomous House by Brenda & Robert Vale

Ah thank you but I’ve just bought the book mentioned above and I think that’s exactly what I’m looking for to be honest. I probably don’t need any others. Thank you for the offer. 

[Gus Potter]

16 hours ago, Rachieble said:

I was wondering if there were any good books

You can never have enough books.

[saveasteading]

My most useful books on building are a set of very old ones, available second hand., with lots of drawings....but the title escapes me.

 

If you are into the Engineering side of things, this comes to mind.

The New Science of Strong Materials: Or Why You Don't Fall through the Floor (Princeton Science Library)

[Alan Ambrose]

It’s a bit of a dry read, but the PHPP manual describes building physics blow-by-blow if you’re interested.

[Rachieble]

13 hours ago, Gus Potter said:

You can never have enough books.

I really can. I will read one. More than one, and I will start them all and never finish any of them. 

[Rachieble]

4 hours ago, Alan Ambrose said:

It’s a bit of a dry read, but the PHPP manual describes building physics blow-by-blow if you’re interested.

Not even a little bit to be honest! I'm just interested in the order of scheduling and who I need to hire to do what jobs/. Beyond that and I'm very happy to let the experts know what they are supposed to be doing. 

[Rachieble]

12 hours ago, saveasteading said:

My most useful books on building are a set of very old ones, available second hand., with lots of drawings....but the title escapes me.

 

If you are into the Engineering side of things, this comes to mind.

The New Science of Strong Materials: Or Why You Don't Fall through the Floor (Princeton Science Library)

God no, this is the opposite of what I want. I'm an engineer (materials not civils) by training but couldn't be less interested in this if I'm truthfull. I just want simple PM guide that tells me who I need on site and when. 

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, Rachieble said:

Beyond that and I'm very happy to let the experts know what they are supposed to be doing. 

If they did, I'd be out of a job  

[saveasteading]

2 hours ago, Rachieble said:

the opposite of what I want. I'm an engineer

I'm told that Chartered Civil Engineers mostly move into managament outside of the industry.

Is that inherent or due to learning how complex civils management is?

 

It probably doesn't apply to Materials Engineers, working indoors.

 

It is just management, but with the weather and new people all the time.

Lists of tasks, on a programme.

Getting materials on time,

Access,

health and safety.

And mostly: people management. Awkward, know-it-all people.

 

Keep trades in a linear process, not interacting, and all will be well.

 

[Rachieble]

9 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

I'm told that Chartered Civil Engineers mostly move into managament outside of the industry.

Is that inherent or due to learning how complex civils management is?

 

It probably doesn't apply to Materials Engineers, working indoors.

 

It is just management, but with the weather and new people all the time.

Lists of tasks, on a programme.

Getting materials on time,

Access,

health and safety.

And mostly: people management. Awkward, know-it-all people.

 

Keep trades in a linear process, not interacting, and all will be well.

 

Honestly, it's usually because that's where the money is. You don't get paid that much being an engineer on the ground so you work your way up into management, and then get to like the client lunches and being in the warm and dry a bit too much! 

Edited March 12 by Rachieble

[saveasteading]

7 minutes ago, Rachieble said:

that's where the money is.

I am out of touch but i think the money is very good at the top and you stay in a nice cabin much of the time.

But you are right that there is more to it. For the big projects, relocating so often,  and at some stage the family says no.

 

I wasn't ever taught management but on big jobs you absorb it. Plus my first important role was character building (sixer).

 

That doesn't help the OP at all, and i don't know what can?

[Rachieble]

8 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

I am out of touch but i think the money is very good at the top and you stay in a nice cabin much of the time.

But you are right that there is more to it. For the big projects, relocating so often,  and at some stage the family says no.

 

I wasn't ever taught management but on big jobs you absorb it. Plus my first important role was character building (sixer).

 

That doesn't help the OP at all, and i don't know what can?

Senior project engineer in London £70-80k per year. Senior management consultant £180-200k plus profit share/bonuses. No brainer. 

[SteamyTea]

I have been a production engineer, a project manager, a production manager and a company owner.

The first two suited me better as I found out, to my cost, that I prefer the technical side than the people management side.

No amount of planning and contingency will stop complete twats (expletive deleted)ing things up.

 

Decide what you are good at, then get others to do the rest.

 

 

Edited March 12 by SteamyTea

[saveasteading]

1 hour ago, Rachieble said:

Senior project engineer in London £70-80k per year.

I've been amazed at how poor some "site managers" are. Management was a mystery to them...they sat in the cabin and passed queries through to head office. Very bad value but every big site needs a babysitter with a first aid cert.

 

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, saveasteading said:

Management was a mystery to them...they sat in the cabin and passed queries through to head office

We are dealing with an HR problem at the moment. We don't have a site manager anymore (partly why the problem has arisen), so a very difficult process for everyone.

[Nickfromwales]

On 12/03/2025 at 16:17, saveasteading said:

I've been amazed at how poor some "site managers" are. Management was a mystery to them...they sat in the cabin and passed queries through to head office. Very bad value but every big site needs a babysitter with a first aid cert.

 

Yup. The last one we quoted for a big project was £60k pa for the site agent, so we had the boxes ticked. Sent that to my QS who said, not going to be anywhere close enough, think again..... Ended up at £80k with all the trimmings. 2.5 years of that is hard for anyone to swallow, but for a proper managed and compliant site, these things cannot be avoided. We managed to value-engineer it a bit by appointing the role to a qualified chippy with other skills and qualities, so then the idea was to offset any 'thumb twiddling' time with programmed work that we had valuations in for.

 

Just down to the level of GAF of the person you choose to employ I guess!

[Gus Potter]

On 11/03/2025 at 06:26, Rachieble said:

I’m fairly experienced building things like extensions but haven’t ever done a full PM build so far and i’d like to take that on next time.

Here is a different approach which can work based on my experience. This is a shortish summary.

 

1/ Read many of the recommended books above, skim read at times.

 

2/ Identify how you want to live, where and why. Write that down and summarise.

 

3/ Establish your top outlay.. what you could afford if push comes to shove. . Knock off 20% for contingency. Yes 20%! as you will eat into this remarkably quickly at the concept stage if you are not experienced. To provide context. If you buy a site and go to a builder for a turnkey option they will add on at least 10% for management and another 10% for general risk.. which includes you being a dodgy Client. One key is to start building relationships early on so folk trust you. Many of us do this in our day to day work.. but suddenly forget how good we are at it, building trust asking for help,  also applies when dealing with a builder, while at the same time sniffing any shite in the air.

 

4/ Write all that down.

 

5/ Find a designer that has a lot of experience (30-40 years) with loads of local contacts and who does this as a day job. Pay them £500 quid to come round on two or three evenings to give you impartial advice. If they know their stuff it will be the best £ 500 quid you ever spend as they will explain to you how it all works on the ground and how you navigate the regs, the tender process, the contract options ( varies from a handshake with the ground worker up to a full blown industry contract for example) and how you can make a self build pay.