On one hand, it easy to admire people who fancy themselves capable of making repairs on their own. On the other hand, there’s a lot of people who will give it the old college try only to create more issues than that with which they started. If you are contemplating being a “Do It Yourself” (DIY) kind of person, do you know which side of the ledger you sit?
For the most part, there are two groups of people who like the DIY approach. There’s the group that uses the opportunity to do the work as kind of a hobby, a way of keeping themselves busy. The other group includes people who sincerely believe they can save money by doing things themselves. To be clear, the DIY approach has its benefits if the individual doing the work knows exactly what they are doing. If not, the potential for problems is massive.
The following discussion includes the three things I learned about DIY projects. For anyone contemplating this approach for the first time, this information could serve as a warning.
By eliminating labor costs, the primary cost of a DIY project is going to center around purchasing materials and supplies. Truth be told, making such purchases is not as easy as it may seem to be.
Some of the potential issues one might encounter include buying materials that fall short of specs (measurements) or wasting money buying more materials than is necessary. If the wrong materials are used, it can create development issues.
Another area people forget to take into account is subcontractors sometimes have the ability to purchase materials and supplies at a significant discount. They are afforded this benefit because of the amount of money they spend with their most reliable suppliers. These discounts aren’t available to the everyday “Joe” off the streets.
In the end, what ends up happening is the DIYer ends up saving next to nothing on labor because of the fact they spend too much money in other areas.
Without the right level of expertise, it’s hard to gauge exactly how much time it’s going to require to complete a DYI project. If someone makes the decision to move forward on a project themselves, they better be ready to expect the unexpected. The fact is it takes an experienced subcontractor as little as half the time to complete a project as it takes an amateur to complete the same project.
The exposure comes if the DIYer runs out of time to finish the project. At that point, the project either lies dormant, or the individual has to go ahead and hire an expert to finish it. By the time everything is taken into account, time ends up being wasted with little to no savings to show for the effort.
When someone has little to no experience doing something, the propensity of making mistakes is very high. Even with the best of intentions, things can go wrong. If a mistake is made, the cost of fixing that mistake can be quite exorbitant. That’s especially true if a subcontractor is going to have to tear down what had been accomplished to date before doing the work the right way.
Remember, there very little risk of disaster if someone is planting a garden. It’s a huge step forward to if they decide to put in a sprinkler system. Without the right level of expertise, the potential for disaster is huge. What happens if a main water pipe gets destroyed in the process? The answer is it could turn into a three-ring circus that could involve city/country officials and the need to tear up the entire yard. It might ever affect the neighbors. Things like this happen all the time when someone without experience takes on a DIY project.
Perhaps you are leaning toward a DIY project in order to save costs. While that’s reasonable, you should always be prepared for the potential for disaster. DIY projects are often trial and error, which means that the unexpected emergency pipe burst scenario above could leave you in a state of financial despair. If you do find yourself facing sudden costs due to a DIY project gone unexpectedly wrong, you may want to look into quick payday loans online. Short-term loans may provide an immediate solution if you find yourself too short on savings to cover the costs of the unexpected repairs. If you want to be safe, you can put the project off until you have enough savings should anything go unexpectedly awry.
If you have time and do well with your hands, you might well be able to handle DIY projects on your own. Before you start any project, you would be well-served to have a “plan B” in your back pocket to cover for emergencies. As the old saying goes, “the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”