DIY renovation is huge, and it’s not difficult to understand why. Completing remodeling projects, yourself saves time and money, and it ensures you have complete control over the finished project. With the spate of shows teaching viewers how to perform simple and complex tasks without contractors, it should be little surprise that you are keen on becoming an avid DIY-er.
However, not everyone is knowledgeable or skilled enough to execute remodeling projects on their own. In fact, few people are handy enough to perform even simple maintenance and repairs in their home. If you suspect you might not be cut out for DIY, here are a few ways to check.
You Want Things to Be Perfect
If you have an exceedingly high standard for how you want your home to look and function, DIY likely isn’t your best course of action. Even the most avid home DIY-er lacks the experience and equipment of a professional renovator, so the likelihood of achieving a similarly perfect finish on any project is low. No good DIY-er expects their projects to come out flawless; they might hope for such, but they are happy to live in a home that has more than a few quirks.
You Aren’t Particularly Creative
Successful home DIY isn’t just about imagining the space you want to create; it’s also about devising a plan for achieving that look with your own tools and materials. If you lack either the imagination to make a design or the ingenuity to complete it, you likely won’t be satisfied with what you can produce yourself. There are a few different tests to determine whether you are a “creative” person, but it’s safe to say that if you must rely on someone else’s vision to start or finish a home DIY task, you probably lack this particular qualification.
You Don’t Know How Things Work
How do the walls in your home support the roof? Why does paint stick certain surfaces but not others? What do the different wires within an outlet do? There’s a reason many renovation experts are so highly paid; they need to know how nearly every aspect of your home works, so they can remodel safely and successfully. In many cities, like Baltimore, handymen and contractors must get licensed to ensure they have the knowledge required to perform certain repairs and renovations. If you don’t know how things work, you will struggle to complete certain home DIY projects that require such understanding.
You Rarely Finish Projects
Some people believe that having many projects going at once is a sign of a natural DIY-er — but in truth, if you can rarely finish them, starting projects probably isn’t a good habit to be in. Starting projects can be addictive because it is exciting, but finishing projects tends to be hard work filled with disappointment and drudgery. Unfortunately, leaving home DIY projects half-complete is both disorderly and dangerous. If you can’t stay motivated enough to see a project through, you should consider hiring professionals to complete the DIYs you envision and focus your motivation on less important projects.
You Don’t Own Any Real Tools
The last time you bought furniture from IKEA, the package included an Allen wrench. You also own a small hammer and a flathead screwdriver. Unfortunately, this isn’t nearly enough to accomplish the home DIY tasks most homeowners envision. While many DIY TV shows and blogs will have you believe that you don’t need much to do small projects, larger renovation plans do require a suite of expensive equipment. Because you don’t already own these tools, you likely aren’t familiar with their use, which means you should probably let the experts handle your major renovations.
You Definitely Lack Patience
Often, beginning DIY-ers mess up a project several times before they can get the outcome how they like. Often, projects simply require days or weeks to wrap up. Because DIY projects have limited labor resources — i.e. it’s usually just you and maybe one helper — they tend to take longer and have more speed bumps involved. If you want your DIY to be over and done with as quickly as possible, you probably need to outsource the work to someone who has experience and a staff of laborers on hand.
It’s time for you to face the facts: You aren’t a natural-born DIY-er. Fortunately, you can rely on knowledgeable, skilled and affordable professionals to accomplish your home renovation dreams — faster and with better finishes than you could ever do yourself.
