Whenever you have a big job to do around the home, you should always ask yourself one important question; should I do this myself or hire a qualified professional?
This is a common dilemma, as while adopting a DIY approach can save you cash in the short-term, hiring a skilled and experienced pro can deliver far greater value for money over time.
So, how can you make this challenging decision and ensure that you complete your home remodelling tasks as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible?
DIY vs. Professional Workmanship in Your Home
In simple terms, there’s a crucial trade-off between time and money when hiring a professional tradesperson, and it’s your job to consider this in detail before making an informed decision.
There are obvious cost benefits to being a DIY enthusiast, of course, as this negates the need to fork out for call-out charges and labour. Not only this, but we have access to seemingly endless resources to help do-it-yourselfers in the digital age, with step-by-step instructional videos available for most tasks on sites such as YouTube.
Thanks to resources such as City Plumbing, you can also access a wide range of specialist tools and items at competitive rates that reduce the cost of individual projects further.
However, there are some tasks that remain high-skilled and potentially hazardous, with electric rewiring and plumbing offering relevant examples.
In these instances, tradespeople need formal industry qualifications to operate safely and knowledgeable in your home, and without these you’ll run the risk of either doing more harm than good or potentially making an existing fault considerably worse.
This may increase the long-term cost of completing a repair, while causing additional issues that will need to be addressed to restore your home to its former glory.
How to Make the Right Call
Of course, hiring qualified professionals can also be an expensive move in its own right, so there are a couple of key things to keep in mind if you’re to make the right call.
To begin with, you should only ever take on tasks that you’re comfortable with, both in terms of your experience levels and underlying skills or qualifications.
For example, painting is a relatively simple task that requires mostly transferable (and no specialist) skills. Conversely, attempting to rewire an appliance is highly-skilled and potentially dangerous, so the risk of attempting this yourself outweighs the potential benefits.
Also, you should avoid undertaking jobs that are overly complex and have the potential to go disastrously awry, while also outsourcing those that can add significant value to your home.
After all, this can prove to be a false economy, and one that ends us undermining the project and minimising a property’s resale value.
