DIY or hire a pro | Home and Real Estate

DIY or hire a pro | Home and Real Estate

Every homeowner is faced with a certain amount of Do It Yourself. It’s part of the deal that comes along with home ownership. It’s unavoidable in an effort to keep your home in good ongoing condition and not letting some simple actions build up to deferred maintenance.

Some maintenance items are simple, and the average homeowner can tackle those tasks. A quick trip to the local Woodland Park Hardware or Foxworth Galbraith for supplies and advice is often a great way to begin. It is worth asking your store salesperson, “Can I do this myself or should I have it done for me?”

Considering the cost of hiring a pro and where that cost may fit in your budget, it’s worth doing some repairs and tasks yourself if you have some basic skills and know how to use some standard tools. I mean, what homeowner can resist crawling under the sink in the kitchen to fix a leaky pipe or stepping up on up on a ladder to clean the gutters?

On the other hand, even if you have experience and some knowhow, it’s worth taking into consideration time, expense, extra tools, materials, permits and the quality of workmanship before diving into most home improvement projects on your own — only to find that you must hire a professional to correct something that you tried yourself AND have them finish the project.

Especially when there is significant increase in the value of your property to be reaped from improvements, taking the time to plan and evaluate if DIY is the right path for you will avoid frustration and unseen costs. This time spent will also help assure that your project results in a quality addition to your home rather than an “oh my.”

Converting an existing room or space to a home office is something that comes up a lot more often now than in the past. There are many more folks working from home these days. That requires some quiet and quality surroundings to keep productivity up. Converting existing rooms to a new use is easy and there are tons of websites with great ideas to help you plan and cast a vision of the look and feel of your new use of a room. Just fire up your Google Box and search for DIY Home Office for instance and you will find more ideas than you thought possible.

Adding a room or rooms to your home is something else entirely and does merit seeking the help of professionals to plan. A good starting point is a local builder to determine some essential parameters like zoning, setbacks from existing property lines and utility access for your additional spaces. Depending on the complexity you may still need to consult an architect for design and plans, but some builders offer design-build services. The design-build service is from vision of the addition to the final product.

Back to more general DIY. A column in the Feb. 10-16 The Epoch Times, “5 Home Repairs You Can DIY — and 5 You Should Always Hire a Pro to Do,” by Marla Christiansen qualified a list of DIY projects in detail and made recommendations of DIY or Not.

Her recommendations were these and I mostly agree:

• Fix a leaky pipe in the bathroom or kitchen. Try to DIY unless the leak is inside the wall.

• Hanging Wallpaper. Hire a Pro.

• Painting a home exterior. Hire a Pro.

• Fix a clogged garbage disposal. Pretty simple and you can Google the steps to follow.

• Replacing a faucet. Maybe a DIY if it is a center set fixture. If more than two connections, however, seek a pro.

• A running toilet. You can do this mostly. Woodland Hardware is a great starting point for advice.

• Installing a light fixture. A Pro is your answer.

• Installing a ceiling fan. Hire a Pro like a handyman service.

• Patch a hole in drywall. DIY. Simple filling of nail holes is easy, a larger hole could even be done by you with some direction. Again, search for steps to follow.

• Replacing a Door. Hire a pro. Too many skills needed here without experience.

If you have questions about my take on DIY, call me or any of the brokers at Michael Harper Real Estate for further advice. We are glad to help! See you next time.

Michael Harper is owner/broker of Michael Harper Real Estate. Contact him through his website, MichaelHarperRealtor.com.

Published at Tue, 16 Mar 2021 06:00:00 +0000