I've learned that failing to weigh certain variables can ultimately make DIY more costly than hiring skilled labor in the first place.
I started 2021 by buying an 1885 hulk of a home, sight unseen, with visions of restoring its earlier grandeur. In almost two years, I’ve restored three of many rooms and tackled multiple smaller projects, by myself.
Between my current house and the one I previously lived in , the only jobs I paid professionals for were the urgent ones and the massive ones: a new roof, demolition of outbuildings, a new heating and cooling system, and the time the oak floor outside my bedroom buckled enough to open into the dirt crawl space .
Talk with someone who has undertaken this kind of work before. If you don’t have a friend with a DIY resume, have a contractor or two come out to provide estimates and use these visits as an intel-gathering opportunity. Ask them how the project would unfold, what permits might be needed, what could go wrong and how many people will be involved.
Now is also a good time to think about how this time will affect daily life. The inconvenience of a four- to six-week project in your only bathroom, for example, is likely justification to pay a professional for an accelerated timeline. Costs The potential for saving on labor costs can entice people to DIY — 15% of homeowners who took on DIY projects over the past two years said they did so because they couldn’t afford to hire a professional, according to the Home Improvement Report survey. But failing to properly weigh the previous two factors — ability and time — could ultimately make your DIY project more expensive than hiring skilled labor in the first place.
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