Hands On
Charlie Hanna applies Critical Path Management to empower homeowners
By John
Dunn
Photo by Laura Sikes
Charles G. Hanna Jr., who was the manager in charge of corporate construction projects for Ingersoll Rand in the 1970s and director of engineering for Revlon's corporate facilities in the 1980s, has written a book giving a hands-on approach to building a house.
Hanna, CE 62, of Denville, N.J., applies building principles in his book that he says empower people to manage the construction of their own homes and save a lot of money.
After starting his own consulting business, Hanna began writing his book. But he went through a divorce, and although he had outlined the concept of the book, he filed it away. It stayed there for a dozen years – until his younger brother's house was damaged by fire.
"He had hired an architect and was going to rebuild and, although it was a small house, it was going to cost him $250,00," Hanna says, "He had already taken those first steps when I heard about it. I said, 'Bob, let me help you. I know a little bit about this.'"
Hanna says he showed his brother and sister-in-law how they could rebuild the $250,000 Long Island house for $100,000.
"I showed him how to do it himself and manage the whole works," Hanna says. "His wife actually did the management and followed the concept. They didn't do everything I wanted them to do, but they built it for half the price. That gave me the incentive to finish the book."
Hanna spent the next year writing "How to Manage the Design and Construction of Your Own Home – or Anything Else!" He used Critical Path Management scheduling to prepare the book's outline and Critical Path Method logic for every chapter."I've taken the principles of the multimillion dollar projects and I've made them simple enough that they are applicable for a home – and anybody can understand it," he says.
To his surprise, Hanna says many of his readers have been housewives. "I've had a good response from a lot of women who have read it who are planning to build an addition to their houses or new houses."
When Hanna finished the book, he published it himself. It is available through Barnes and Noble, Borders and Amazon.com. He has made four appearances at Borders and four appearances at the Barnes and Noble in Patterson, N.J. He spends several days a month promoting the book, which sells for $60.
Charlie Hanna helped brother Bob save more than $100,000 when rebuilding his fire-damaged home.
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"Over the counter at a bookstore, that's a high price." he says. "but as a textbook, that's a low price. For a professional book, it's a very low price." Hanna also plans to sell the book digitally, making the whole book available to download or available a chapter at a time. Although it will be the same book, he's putting a twist of the name on the cover: "How to Manage and Design the Construction of Anything – Even Your Own Home." "I've had some phenomenal feedback, even from contractors," he says. Hanna is a proponent of modular construction, which he says is much faster, less expensive and superior to "stick built." "I'll go to a modular manufacturer and I'll say, 'Give me a price on this.' They'll give you a price within a few days that will be to the penny to what it is going to cost and it will be delivered on the day they say it will come. Can you picture doing that on normal construction?" he asks. By
the time the foundation of a house is completed, modular construction
will be finished. "It's delivered, set on the foundation and
at the end of that day, you lock the door." In
his preface, Hanna says the book was written to advise the owner
how best to use the experts to design and build a home. He advises
homeowners to manage contractors, developers and architects. When the owner takes charge of the project, Hanna says, "you can build twice as much for the same price or get the home you wanted for half the price." • Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine. Winter 2003 |
