DIY is extraordinarily popular these days, and it’s easy to see why. The wealth of resources available online and the constant opportunities to see people talking about how great their DIY project turned out work together to make a seductive pitch.
But completing a home renovation all by your lonesome isn’t just a matter of strong work ethic and determination. Even small remodels entail a great deal of planning – and a considerable number of factors that might cause things to go south.
If you’re thinking of going the DIY route, here’s a list of things you ought to know before you take the plunge.
- The local permit requirements and building codes. You do not want to find out during or after your project that it runs afoul of either of these things. Get very, very familiar with them before you move forward.
- Whether you have the patience for it. If you’re doing it yourself, this job is going to take a while! So you need to know if you’ll be able to handle the time commitment, invest a lot of effort into learning all the relevant components, put up with the physical demands and deal with the frustration if something goes wrong.
- How long it could take. What if the project takes longer to complete than you expected? Will you be OK with seeing a half-finished home improvement project every day?
- How tolerant the rest of the house is. Will everyone else in your house be OK with seeing that work in progress every day? How about with the noise, the smells, the demands on your time?
- Whether you have the resources. You’ll need a full complement of skills and, potentially, a significant number of tools – and you’ll want to have both before you get started. Part and parcel of having both of those things is having the confidence that you can do the job safely. Think very, very carefully before you decide you have the wherewithal to demolish walls, fix roofs, perform electrical work or do any more than the most basic plumbing.
- Where you’ll get materials. Not only should you know in advance all the materials you’ll need – the fewer trips to the home improvement store, the better, right? – you should also know where you’re going to get them. Don’t just assume your favorite hardware store will have everything!
- The relevant instructions. Whatever you’re installing, it has instructions from the manufacturer, and you’ll want to have them well in advance – not just so you can plan properly, but so you know whether your skill set is adequate to follow them.
- Who’ll be helping you. If friends or family members will be helping you, are you confident they’re up to the task? If you think you’ll need a professional subcontractor, are you confident you can find one who can work within the parameters you’ve set?
- The steps of the project. You need more than a goal; you need a series of steps that will get you to that goal, and you need to have them ordered in a way that makes sense.
- Whether it will meet your ultimate goal. That is, if you’re doing this because you only trust yourself to do it the way you want, are you sure you’ll do it the way you want? If you’re doing this to save money, are you sure you’ll save money in the end (and in the long run)? If you’re doing this because you think it will be fun, are you sure it will be fun?
Garth Bishop is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenecolumbus.com.
