DIY home renovation Vs professional home renovation – which one is better? It’s nice to think of yourself as a handy person, but is handiness the only thing that we need to have if we want to do our home renovations ourselves? Think of the other factors aside from handiness.
There are legal considerations, the cost of the project regarding both time and money, different permits, etc. Even a complete makeover of one room can be a whole endeavor if it’s your first time.
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DIY Vs Professional Home Renovation – How to Decide?
So, if you’re having trouble deciding between DIY home renovation Vs professional home renovation, let’s discuss how to make your decision easier.
Legal Considerations
It’s necessary to review the legal paperwork before you begin any project of your own. If you gained all the permits and did all the inspections, you can do whatever you want to your home. However, unusual things are best left to professional home renovation agencies.
Think about all the trades that require a license in your state or municipality, and you can get an idea if you should do those things or not. If a permit is necessary, you should probably avoid doing it.
Hiring a contractor to do your renovations might also cause legal disputes if the contractor isn’t careful and good at what they do. So, you have to be cautious when choosing the company that does the renovations.
Home Renovation Project Cost
Another thing to analyze is the overall expense of the project. We’re talking about time and money. Whether you do it yourself instead you hire a construction company or contractor to do it for you, you will spend both time and money on the project.
It’s just a matter of balancing both. If you want to pay less money, and you have an extra amount of time on your hands, maybe you can do your home renovation yourself. However, if you mess something up, you’ll end up spending more than if you hired a contractor.
It might be better to go half and a half sometimes, arrange with your contractor to do all the tricky work, and you can perform the finishing touches. If you mess up, you’ll need to contact a construction company to fix the mess.
When Should You DIY Home Renovation?
There are jobs you can definitely do yourself when we speak about home renovation. These are related to decoration, small works, and the so-called “finishing touches.” Sometimes, these can be a complete rip-off and can cost as much as the materials.
Interior wall painting
You can really cut costs for painting the interior of your home. If you feel confident in your hands and are patient enough, this is definitely a DIY. Professionals can charge from $20 to $30 per square meter.
For example, if you’re painting a 120 square meter house, the materials will cost you around $500. This includes all the materials, no budget cuts. The usual price of a professional home renovation service is $1,500.
Laminate flooring
Installing any type of floor that isn’t hardwood or a tile floor can be DIY, especially laminate floors. Again, it’s a matter of not getting charged twice as much as the material price. Laminate costs about $25 per square meter.
If you have a 10 square meter room, buying the laminate will cost you $250, and let’s say that you pay a little extra for the adhesive as well. Hiring a professional to do the same amount of work adds another $200 to the overall cost.
Installing a toilet
Okay, so this can definitely be DIY home renovation, assuming all the pipes are in order and everything’s working perfectly. You don’t need to get a professional home renovation service. However, you have to be cautious when choosing the toilet model.
The cost depends on the model, and you have to be careful to choose the one that aligns with the drain pipe. Just to illustrate, a down–to–earth cost of installing a toilet is about $400 if a professional renovation service does it. You’ll probably spend about $250 (approx. cost of a bathroom) if you do it.
Kitchen backsplash installation
This is a more time–consuming task. It takes about two days because of the phases and the drying. It also depends on how big the surface is. So, if you decide to get tiles, adhesive, and grout for this, the cost in a traditional kitchen is approximately $300.
This is the cost of materials only. If you determine to hire a professional home renovation service provider, that adds another $500 to the price. Also, you can choose to go with a different material instead of tile. So, the cost can vary a little, but it’s still going to cost more if a professional does it.
Safety Considerations – DIY Home Renovation Vs Professional Home Renovation
Now that you know what you should do yourself, you still need to consider one thing. Do you know how to do it?
Consider the safety requirements. There’s an entire list of things you should definitely skip doing yourself unless you do it for a living:
Any Roof Renovation
It’s very dangerous to install a new roof, even though it looks easy. You need to work at a certain height, and you’re always at risk of falling. There’s a lot of necessary safety equipment.
Doing it yourself actually costs more than hiring professionals to do it. Also, if the roof deteriorates over the years, it’s that more dangerous.
You can risk falling through it, and you might miss something that ends up being an enormous problem.
Any roof renovation requires a thorough check for structural damage. If you just put new roof tiles on a damaged roof structure, serious issues can arise, the worst being the entire roof collapsing.
Demolition Works
If you need something demolished, definitely hire professional home renovation services to do it because you can end up hurting yourself. There’s a possibility that you accidentally hit a load-bearing wall.
This can cause the overall collapse of the structure. The second thing is that you might actually hit live wires. Also, you might damage something that you weren’t supposed to, like the bedroom wall that’s a shared wall with the living room.
If you’re having second thoughts, take a look at these tips before deciding to demolish.
Wiring, Gas Pipelines, and Plumbing
If you’re not an electrician, don’t do your home’s wiring yourself. This is a very delicate process; it’s not like checking for damaged cables and replacing a light switch.
It’s the same for gas pipelines. If you’re preparing to renovate a part of your home that has gas coming to it, hire professional home renovation service. You should do the same for any plumbing.
Especially if you live in an apartment in a building and you have neighbors living on the floor below yours. Don’t mess with the plumbing because you can cause damage to your neighbor’s plumbing.
Unit Addition
Adding a unit can be pretty tricky because of the permits, but it’s not all about that; it can also be unsafe. Unless you completely understand the structural design of your home, we advise you to hire professionals.
Imagine adding a unit on the second floor of your home and not knowing if the walls can support it. It’s better to be protected and spend a little extra cash than to be sorry. It’s not a DIY home renovation activity unless it’s what you do for a living.
Benefits of Professional Home Renovation
The first benefit of hiring professional home renovation services to renovate your home is that you just pay and get quality, and you don’t have to work extra.
Think about it, if you do it yourself, you have to do the cleaning as well, and cleaning after a home renovation can be very frustrating.
Second, you don’t have to worry about safety regulations because they know what they’re doing if you hire professionals.
The whole renovation project takes less time when professionals do it because they did it countless times before.
However, DIY home renovation can save you a lot of money. So, it’s best to stick to DIY home renovation with the less delicate parts of the renovation.
Finally, it’s all about how much experience and skill you have. Also, think about if it’s even time to remodel your home.
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Author: Gabriel Hill is an Australian blogger interested in various spheres from home improvement and environment to management and health.
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