New Home Improvement Ways

8/31/2022 (Permalink)

There’s a YouTube tutorial or how-to article for pretty much any and every do-it-yourself home improvement project you could possibly want to take on. But just because you can DIY something doesn’t mean you should. In some cases, your time, money and safety may be worth more than what you’d pay a professional to do the same job.

Pros could do it for less

Calculate how much your time is worth per hour (or how much you think it’s worth) and how long the project will take, add the cost of materials and tools, and compare the total to how much a professional would charge for the same job. Of course, this approach breaks down if you’re doing home projects entirely on personal time that doesn’t have the same value as your professional time—or if sticking to a budget is your top priority.

Pros could do it faster

If time is money, or if you have limited hours to complete a DIY project, it may be worth paying a professional, who can almost certainly do it faster.

Pros could do it more safely

Some projects aren’t so easily tackled via a YouTube education or without training or hands-on experience. You probably want to avoid DIY when it comes to:

• Electrical work (beyond changing a switch or replacing a light fixture)
• Anything with tension springs (garage doors, for example)
• Gas plumbing
• Roofing

If there’s a chance that you’ll electrocute yourself, crush yourself, fall off a ladder, or burn down your house, consider hiring someone else for the job.