Contracting a house without a professional builder is one of the most time consuming and intellectually and emotionally challenging tasks a homeowner will ever experience. Retired University of Rhode Island professor of biology Frank Heppner started rehabilitating old houses in 1977, and began the job of contracting his own house, one of the first modern design domestic structures in southern Rhode Island, in 1979. In this book, he describes the background preparation that was required for the job, and how the real estate market and the landscape shaped where the house would be located and how it was built. This is not a how-to book, but explores how family, job, personal background, local history, and chance play a role in the self-contracting process. There's an old saying in the real estate business, "There are only three important things in real estate; location, location, and location." This is absolutely true in self-contracting, so the book also explores how the residential real estate market has developed over the past 40 years in southern Rhode Island, and discusses how location considerations can affect self-contracting anywhere. If you are thinking about contracting your own house this book will be an invaluable assist in helping you decide whether you want to take on this enormous, yet gratifying task.