Lincoln builder writes the book on affordable homebuilding
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BY MATT OLBERDING/Lincoln Journal Star
Fernando Pages wrote the book on affordable homebuilding — literally. And that book, "Building an Affordable House: Trade Secrets to High-Value, Low-Cost Construction," has been a huge success.
Released in January by Taunton Press, the book sold out a year's worth of stock in two months. It has routinely been among the top 50 nationwide in the House and Home category, according to the Nielsen BookScan report. And on Monday, it was the No. 6 most-popular book in the Buildings and Construction category on amazon.com.
Steve Culpepper, an editor at Taunton, said Pages' book has been very successful for the short time it's been on the market.
"For a technical how-to, this has busted right out of the gate and has done as well as anything we've done over the past several years," Culpepper said.
The book has been so successful, in fact, that Pages is developing a sequel for Taunton that is scheduled to come out in the spring of 2007.
Pages, who owns Brighton Construction, said it was writing about higher-end homes that actually launched the idea for a book on affordable building.
While working on an article for Fine Homebuilding magazine, he took his editor for a drive around Lincoln, showing him some affordable houses he had built.
The editor thought the subject would make a great story for the magazine.
"He got very turned on by the approach," Pages said.
The editor pitched the story to other editors at the magazine, who, though originally skeptical, were eventually sold on the idea.
The result was a five-page spread in the February/March 2002 edition of the magazine.
Editors had remained skeptical and had even shortened the article some from its original length, yet the piece was a hit among readers.
"It became the second most popular article the magazine had ever published," Pages said.
That led Taunton to ask him to write a book on the subject.
Culpepper said it was clear the topic was important to Pages, who specializes in affordable homebuilding.
"His passion for the subject came through," Culpepper said.
Pages said he knew he couldn't write a book just about what he was doing in Lincoln, so he set out across the country, visiting the largest housing markets and gathering information from many builders on ways to save money.
"For me, it was an opportunity to expand my horizons and my knowledge," he said.
The book focuses on ways to save money on homes by reducing "hard-dollar costs." That can range from using less expensive materials — building an asphalt or gravel driveway instead of concrete, if possible, or installing an electric furnace, which has a lower initial cost and can be just as efficient as a gas one — to finding cheaper land, such as building on scattered lots in existing neighborhoods, commonly called infill sites.
Less expensive doesn't mean cheap, Pages said. He doesn't just use the cheapest material available, he does extensive research to see if the same or higher quality can be achieved for a lower cost.
Those tips and dozens of others resulted in a book offering techniques that can save anyone money on any type of home anywhere in the country, Pages said.
"One of the things I wanted to make sure of was no matter where you picked up the book you could find something useful," he said.
Pages learned something useful himself. By applying techniques he learned from a builder who was trying to construct affordable housing in pricey Santa Fe, N.M., Pages saved a bundle on his own home in Lincoln.
"What I ended up with is a half-million dollar home that only cost me $325,000," he said.
Pages said the response to his book has been "uniformly good."
He has received e-mails from people all over the country. A builder in Louisiana wanted to know the best way to get 20 copies. Someone in Los Angeles wanted to know more about building on an infill site. And after Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson got a copy of the book, he invited Pages to the U.S.-Mexico Forum on Public-Private Partnerships for Housing Innovation in Cancun in February.
Culpepper said part of the reason for the book's success was that it appeals to more than people in the building industry.
A book like Pages' usually appeals to a pretty narrow audience, in this case builders and contractors, he said.
"But this has crossed over," Culpepper said.
Of course Pages is glad, as any author would be, that his book is a success so far, but he's glad for another reason as well.
He sees affordable homebuilding as a moral obligation in addition to being good business. The book, he said, has given him the chance to spread the knowledge he's gained to as many people as possible.
"The book has become a tool empowering the dream of homeownership," Pages said. "By revealing the secrets available to the best homebuilders across the country — those with budgets to fund research and development — homeowners and small homebuilders can use the same information to bring their dreams into reach."
Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.
Pages-built house on Parade of Homes
A home built by Fernando Pages' Brighton Construction is featured on the Spring Parade of Homes, which begins today and continues through next Sunday.
Thompson Villa, 5840 Billings Court, is a modern living townhouse with more than 2,000 square feet, three bedrooms and 2½ baths. It is priced at $125,000 to $150,000, including the lot.
Spring Parade of Homes hours are 6-9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1-6 p.m. weekends.
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