A Consumer's Guide to Home Improvement, Renovation, and Repair, Revised Edition

Rating:
Summary: Most useful in evaluation the options of having someone else
Review: do the work.

This is not a "how to" book as much as it is a "consider the options" book. The "Consumer's Guide" covers the basic home repair and improvement tasks, but offers beter insight into what these costs contracted versus do-it-yourself AND the relative difficulty level.

For example, they examine different options for water heaters: gas and electric, tank and tankless, as well as heat pump. They note that gas heaters cost more to install, but you'll usually save the amount in the utility bill.

They offer insight into add-on options. For example, an insulation jacket (for the above water heater) is worth considering if your exterior walls aren't well-insulated (