As the summer heat becomes scorching, my secret passion for home improvement shows comes out. There’s a sort of effortless ease in spending an entire Sunday afternoon under the AC watching renovators dig botched DIY projects out of the mud. While these shows bring immense entertainment, they’ve also taught me an important life lesson – never get in over your head with home renovations. People often make the mistake of simultaneously overestimating their abilities and underestimating the complexities of a home renovation – take plumbing as an example. One simple pipe may cause an inexperienced renovator an endless number of complications and a bill to match. Thus, in hopes of saving countless dollars and nervous breakdowns, this article takes a closer look at exactly why your home renovation needs a professional plumber on board.
The right tools for the job
As a result of YouTube tutorials, people seem to believe that you can become an expert in just about everything in mere minutes. However, most tasks, plumbing included, require more than a minute-long video could ever provide. For one, work such as plumbing requires the right tools for the job. Thus, while you may have watched a tutorial on how to change a pipe, chances are you don’t have the tools to do it on your own. During their training, professional plumbers come to understand which tools and materials work across a variety of situations. Thus, while a DIY enthusiast may just grab the cheapest pipe off the shelf, certified plumbers will know exactly which pipe material and type will work best (and longest) in your home. So, the next time you think that a video tutorial is enough, consider if five years of work or knowledge and experience can be crammed into it.
The right person for the job
Plenty of people opt for a DIY remodel because of the bottom line. In their minds, hiring a qualified and experienced plumber will lead to additional and unnecessary costs. However, this train of thought may cause people to spend more on renovations than they had initially intended. Because of their lack of experience, DIY renovators often botch a plumbing installation whose clean-up costs more than it would have to hire a professional in the beginning. Thus, while hiring a professional plumber may seem like a splurge, the opposite is true. In Australia alone, a certified plumber will have at least five years of experience as an apprentice and a Certificate III in Plumbing from a nationally accredited training institute. As a result of this experience, certified plumbers will be able to suggest several solutions for both complex issues like pipe relining and simple ones such as clogged drains.
The right permits for the job
Newbie renovators often think that all you need for demolition day is a sledgehammer and some unresolved rage. However, you also need to get through quite a bit of red tape too. (Un)surprisingly, renovations require permits – something that may not be as easily obtainable for inexperienced DIY enthusiasts. In short, each building and house require a specific type of building permit. To obtain it, you first need to grasp the scope of the renovation project – another thing that may not be easy without experience.
Here is where the difference between plumbers and rookie renovators comes into play. In most cases, even a glance at your plumbing issue will be enough for a certified plumber to determine the scope of the project. Once they have that, they’ll know which paperwork to file and which permit to seek. In short, they’ll know which hoops to jump through to make the renovation process as quick as possible.
The article covered three main ways to discern a DIY enthusiast from a plumber. However, all three come down to one thing – experience. A professional plumber will know the lay of the land better than a DIY renovator ever could. It is precisely this knowledge that will save you the time, money, and frustration that botched DIY renovations so often lead to. Thus, the next time you think about fixing a pipe with one YouTube tutorial under your belt, put the phone down and find an experienced plumber near you.
