This second edition of What Your Contractor Can't Tell You further equips owners with the information and strategies needed to create their vision on time and within budget. Chapters detail critical topics, like planning your project, design options, selecting and working well with an architect and/or contractor, cost estimating, budgets, plan specifications, contracts, dealing with town officials, managing your project on site and keeping track of everything along the way. For each stage of the project, you'll see your options, common pitfalls and how to avoid them, as well as insiders' tips which reveal what contractors can't tell you. Most importantly, you will come away with keen insight into this complicated field and understand your role in it and everyone else's.