By REMODELING Magazine Staff.

Patricia McDaniel

Boardwalk Builders

Rehoboth, Del.

Big50 1998

Stewart Brand, who wrote How Buildings Learn, says what we want from a house changes as our family grows or shrinks, as the times change, as technology changes, and as a house moves from one owner to the next. He believes we should build houses (and other buildings) to accommodate change. His concept is to separate the skin (siding) from the structure (frame) from the guts (wiring, piping). Other powerful reads: A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction, by Christopher Alexander, et al., and The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, by Malcolm Gladwell.

Ben Tyler

Ben Tyler Building & Remodeling

Louisville, Ky.

Big50 2002

The best business book I have read in a long time is Jim Collins' Good to Great. It has chapters on leadership and getting the right people in the right places within your company. It's hard to put down once you start. A Remodeling Leadership Conference speaker referenced Consumer Terrorism: How to Get Satisfaction When You're Being Ripped Off, by Frank Burkett, et al., and I had seen a copy on the kitchen counter of one of our "clients from hell." I haven't read it, but it would probably be worth picking up a copy.