Thursday, April 05, 2007

Make it Right: Inside Home Renovation with Canada's Most Trusted Contractor - Mike Holmes

The Basics: Make it Right: Inside Home Renovation with Canada's Most Trusted Contractor, Mike Holmes, 2006, 209 pages

How I found it: Greg got this book for Christmas and since I am a fan of Holmes on Homes as well, I thought I'd read the book to educate myself.

What's it about?: This is Mike Holmes' coffee table book style explanation of what he does on his show to "Make it Right". The book explains how to go about doing a home renovation starting from how to hire a contractor, to how to do each part of the job, to what materials and techniques to choose. There are lots of pictures - mostly stills from the TV show.

Did I like it?: This book should be considered an accompaniment to the TV show. I liked reading it because it explained in a bit more detail why they do some of the things they do to fix people's houses on the show, and why they use the products they do. I also really liked that Mike seems to have an environmentalist bent, which doesn't always come through on the show. I am unhappily a long way off from owning a home, but I can got lots of ideas about energy efficient things I can do in my home, and environmentally products I can buy.

Will you like it?: Unless you are a fan of the show, or about to embark on a home reno, I don't know that you would find this book that interesting. It is good as a companion to the show, but otherwise there isn't really a lot of reasons to read it. It's not really in depth enough to be a reference book, although the sections on how to find and deal with a contractor are good.

But don't take my word for it: There are a handful of industry and reader reviews on Amazon.ca, and the official Holmes on Homes website.

1 comment:

  1. Is there any way to get an autographed copy? My best man reveres Mike and this would make a perfect gift for him!

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