DIY or Hire a Professional?

This weekend, may be a perfect opportunity for you to show you creative side and start a DIY project. With all the DIY shows and Pinterest app its easy to find really good ideas. Sometimes these DIY projects can actually cause more of a headache though. Have you ever seen an amazing post on Pinterest, and thought “I can do that”, But after you attempt to recreate it, you quickly learn that it is not turning out the way you planned and its actually turning into a huge disaster. You have to find that fine line between what you can manage on your own and what you should leave for a professional to accomplish. With that being said, there are some home improvement projects that can absolutely be done yourself. So how do you determine if you should DIY or hire a professional?

Here are a few questions that you can ask yourself to help decide whether or not your home improvement project is one that you should try to tackle yourself or if you should hire a professional in order to avoid a DIY disaster!

1. Make a list. Write down the name of the project and everything you will need to complete that project. On your list make a pros and cons column. Write down in the pros column all of the tools you already have and know how to use. Then write down the extent of the knowledge about the project you know how to do. Then write in the cons column all of the tools you don’t have for the project and what knowledge you are lacking to complete the project. This will help you determine whether or not you should hire a professional. It could be that by the time you buy all the tools you will need for this one project that you could have saved yourself the trouble and hired a professional for relatively the same price. You quite possibly could have saved yourself a lot of time and hassle.

2. Will your project require permits? Quite a few projects do. Do you know how to obtain a permit? Call your City’s Building Services or Building Permits Division to determine if you need a permit and how to go about actually getting the permit. Getting a permit, if you are not well versed in doing this, can be extremely tedious, stressful and time consuming. Sometimes one project can trigger the need to meet another city requirement. Therefore, this may be something best left to a professional.

3. Are there any safety issues? Does your project entail having to use a ladder, electrical issues, gas or anything that could potentially collapse? If so, you will need to determine your level of expertise and then either proceed with caution or just go ahead and call a professional. It’s not worth it to take a chance on your safety or the safety of your family.

4. Get bids. Get several bids and then compare the cost of doing the project yourself. You might be pleasantly surprised. Example: you may be perfectly capable of painting; however, more than likely, a professional will do a better job and do it more quickly and without all of the mess. Additionally, most contractors get their supplies at a reduced cost because they buy them in bulk. This could mean savings for you.

5. Time. Do you have time to do this project? Do you really want a project to be drawn out for a month or more just because you don’t have time to complete it?

6. Do you enjoy the whole DIY thing? If so, go back over what you do and don’t know how to do and then have at it.
Generally speaking, if you have the money to have your DIY project professionally done then do it! If not, take a good hard look at what needs to be done and think about every step very carefully to determine what could go wrong.

So next time you try to paint your kitchen cabinets, like the ones on Pinterest take the time to research and see if it is worth Doing Yourself or Hiring a Professional.

Thanks for Reading,
The Inman Team