Know When To Hire a Professional or DIY Your Next Home Project

Whether the job is just too big to handle on your own or too dangerous for a homeowner to tackle by themselves, know when to hire a professional because these home improvement projects aren’t good for DIYing.

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We all love a good DIY project. At least you know I do! But no matter how much you enjoy DIYing around your home, there are a few projects that are better left to the professionals.

Remember when I told you about how trying to epoxy my countertops almost ruined my kitchen, AND my marriage?

Trust me when I say I have a gauge on this project thing…lol.

3 Considerations To Know When To Hire Out Or DIY

Time Versus Cost

One of the main reasons I DIY is it allows me to save on labor costs. And sometimes even the cost of materials. But I always know that to save money I am sacrificing time.

When trying to determine if I should hire a professional for projects, I determine the amount of time it will take and if it is worth it to spend the money to save my time. Or if the time spent will be worth the savings.

If it is going to take me 4 weekends and leave my house a wreck for a month. When I could hire someone to get something done in a day or two. It may be worth it to start getting estimates.

Is a Certification Required?

Some jobs, like electrical, require special training or certifications. And there is a good reason why.

While we have done simple tasks like changing out ceiling fans and light fixtures, and even swapping outlets, there are some things we are not touching. Like we need to have our fuse box updated and possibly relocated. Yup, we will be hiring for that…

If there are permits required or certifications needed to get the job done, go ahead and get some estimates.

Is There a Potential For Danger

While I have no problem climbing a ladder to paint a ceiling or wall, I just am not climbing one to get on the roof.

Always put safety first. If a job requires special safety equipment or could potentially cause bodily harm, leave that job to the pros.

5 Projects You Should Consider Hiring a Professional For

Think twice before taking on any one of these five home improvement projects you may regret DIYing.

Crown Molding Installation

Adding crown molding to a room can drastically improve the look of a space, and installing crown molding would appear to be a pretty straight-forward job. But in reality, crown molding installation is a difficult task.

Since the walls in most homes aren’t perfectly straight, you’ll need to reshape each piece of molding to fit flush to the wall. And if you’re not a professional installer, this process could add hours (or days) to your DIY job.

This is one of those jobs that if you are real DIYer with skills, you could totally handle. But for a novice or even intermediate DIYer, it may not be worth the money and time spent to DIY.

Repairing the Roof

In addition to risking serious injury from a fall, attempting to DIY a roofing project could turn into a bigger job than you anticipate.

Sometimes, a simple repair can turn into a full-blown roof replacement. And if you’re not an experienced roofer, that could result in a huge project for you to handle all on your own.

Instead of attempting a roof repair or replacement by yourself, consider hiring a professional to tackle this big job.

Electrical Repairs

Did you know there are more than 400 deaths per year as the result of faulty electricity in homes?

When dealing with electrical repairs, it’s best to hire a professional. In addition to protecting yourself from accidental shock, having a professional repair electrical problems in your home ensures your house is safe when the project is finished.

Anything that requires you to change wiring or electrical configuration should probably mean you call in the pros.

Refinishing Hardwood Floors

When we bought our last house, one of the things I wanted to do was to pull up the ugly nasty carpet right away before we moved in. Which gave my hubby a week to complete it. And he did it after he got off work.

I will tell you that it was not an easy task, and I would have never done it alone. Even though he did, but he is crazy!

Although it may seem cost-effective to rent the machine and tackle this project yourself, an inexperienced DIYer can cause more damage to the floors while attempting to refinish the hardwood floors.

Learning how to properly use a floor sander takes hours of practice. That means you’ll be wasting hours of your time learning how to master the equipment – and running the risk of damaging your floors as you learn.

At a minimum, it may be worth hiring out for the heavy lifting, sanding, and you completing the last steps like staining and protecting your floors.

Laying Tile

Laying tile isn’t an absolute no-no for DIYers, especially if you’ve done the job before.

But this is one you may regret taking on if you’ve never done a tiling job in the past.

My first time personally working with tile was completing the kitchen tile job by doing the kitchen backsplash. It was just enough tile work for me.

To avoid project overwhelm or biting off more than you can chew for your first tile project, consider starting a small job, like a kitchen backsplash, before starting on a big project like a shower or full floor.

I will say that I would not mind doing more tile work, but it is definitely not something that I would take on alone.

So if these are projects I DON’T recommend, you may be feeling like, Well damn, what can I DIY?

And no worries, Igotchu!

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Make sure you are only taking on projects you have the tools for, or are willing to make the investment in on the tools. Here is a list of tools every DIYer should have if you do not know where to start.

What's your next planned DIY?

5 Home Projects You Will Regret DIYing + 14 You Definitely Won’t