Do It Yourself Or Hire A Contractor For Home Renovation Projects?
You have to spend a lot of money after you buy a new house. For example, you have to pay different taxes, insurance fee, utility bills, and above all, you need to spend money on renovation and home improvement.
Due to all these ongoing expenses, you will try to save some money on different tasks. You can save some money on your taxes by hiring a lawyer who will tell you the legal ways to save money. But that would be not enough.
You can save a lot of money on your home improvement and renovation projects. Yes, just like you, many other people try to save money with the ‘Do It Yourself’ projects when it comes to home Improvement.
But this is not as simple as many people believe. They failed to realize that sometimes Do It Yourself (DIY) home improvement projects cost them more than the cost if they hire a professional general contractor.
So, if you are the one who needs to make a decision to do it yourself or hire a contractor for your home improvement project, then must read this guide and then make your decisions.
Well, it is not a straightforward decision. You need to be smart to make this decision. When the objective is to save money, then obviously you have to do some projects yourself and for some projects you need to hire a general contractor.
You can’t do all the projects yourself, this is for sure. So you have to select a few projects for yourself which can save money for you with little work.
Here are a few things that you should consider when deciding which projects to DIY:
Select DIY Jobs Which Are Safe
You should not ignore your safety at any cost. No DIY project should be selected just to save some money which can be complicated and have a risk of life or other serious threats.
For example, the roofing projects, the electric projects or other such projects which have high value of risk to your life and to your health should be avoided. You should always hire an experienced general contractor for such projects.
Whenever you need to choose a DIY project, ask yourself what is the maximum risk involved in that project. If it has a risk of life, then forget about money saving, save your life first.
Consider Home Safety
Just like your own safety, the safety of the house is also important. The projects like plumbing can destroy your house if you make a little mistake. Like, if there is water leakage due to improper pipe fittings, it could weaken the wall and it will go unnoticed for years.
This little mistake can also be dangerous for the electrical wiring which could be a reason of short circuit. So any such job which involves high risks for the house should be avoided as a DIY project.
Consider the DIY Cost
Since, you are going to save money with the DIY projects, so you should consider the costs involve with the DIY projects as well. For example, you need to buy the materials even if you are doing it yourself. For some DIY projects, you also need a work permit and the cost of work permit should also be considered.
The only cost you can save with these DIY home improvement projects are the costs involved for the time and the labor. So, if you don’t find a noticeable difference of the cost when doing it yourself and when hiring a contractor for that, it is good to let the contractor do that as well.
Check these 5 money saving garage door upgrade tips.
Time is Money
Don’t underestimate the value of time. Everyone knows that time is money. You must have a good understanding of the time required for a specific job when you are going to DIY. If you don’t have a prior experience of that specific job, and you believe that it could take a lot of time then don’t go for it.
If you are sure that you can do it in the minimum time without risking your life or house then that is the perfect job that you can do yourself.
Which are the Perfect DIY Home Renovation Projects?
The best home renovation projects which you can do it yourself are the small tasks to renovate and to decorate your house. For example, you can make a pallet bed for the kids or you can make DIY planters from house hold items for your kitchen or for the living room.
Don’t ignore these small ways to make big changes in your bathroom. In short, there are a lot of ways to save money on home renovation DIY projects. But you should select these projects wisely as saving money is not important then saving your life.