Monday to Friday, they teach school, practice law, push paper, pound a keyboard, or run a company. But they start their weekends with a trip to the nearest home-improvement center. They're owner-builders, men and women just like you who know the satisfaction of doing it themselvesof adding a deck, remodeling the den, or building a dream house from the ground up. The Builder's Secretwill introduce you to some owner-builders who've renounced ordinary weekend pleasures in favor of lengthy, backbreakingbut ultimately exhilaratinghome-building projects. Inside, you'll meet a Connecticut architect and his "city-girl" wife who lived in a tent for a year while constructing their dream house, a flutist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra who began renovating commercial real estate in his spare time when his country home neared completion, and a divorced mother of three who says that she built more than her house during those two years on the jobshe rebuilt her life, too. You'll meet others whose stories will inspire you to start that dream project of your own. A few of these owner-builders learned to build during childhood, others didn't pick up a hammer until they were grown. But all discovered that the highest reward of building was not what they got for their toil but what they became by it. "This chronicle of owner-builders is really a 'why-to' manual, revealing how tremendously satisfying it can be to sleep beneath a roof that you built yourself."Kevin Ireton, editor ofFine Homebuildingmagazine "Building your own house is both frustrating and rewarding by turns. You will enjoy the stories chronicled inThe Builder's Secretthey have the whiff of sawdust and reality."Witold Rybczynski, professor of architecture, McGill University "Gives all those who have ever dreamed of building their own house valuable insights into the physical and spiritual process. This book reveals that the satisfaction of achieving one of life's basic goalscreating your own shelteris within the reach of anyone."Will Beemer, director of The Heartwood School Read an interview with the author ////////here.

<b>George Ehrenhaft</b> is both an engaging writer and a tireless builder, having built the equivalent of two-and-a-half houses by himself. The author of nine books, he lives in Katonah, New York.