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Entry bubble Remodeling: Do It Yourself or Contract It Out

By: Ginger | February 27, 2009 | Category: Home and Family

Before I get into my topic, I want to thank the folks who read my blog about the “shower/toilet brush incident” and expressed their concerns by sending 57 toilet brushes, 92 bottles of shower gel, and 131 shower brushes.  Kidding! Instead, I got a bunch of bad puns and some razzing from my co-workers.   I did get a bottle of shower gel and a new shower brush from a concerned co-worker which will come in handy when our bathroom renovation is completed.

Person about to hammer a nailWe are giving our 70’s bathroom a facelift.  Normally, my husband and I are “do-it-yourselfers.”  Over the years we have done quite a few renovation projects.  Because we are already working on a kitchen project for my husband’s mother, we decided to contract out the work this time for our bathroom.

When considering doing-it-yourself home improvements versus contracting out there is a lot to think about.  The labor portion of any project is the most costly aspect. By doing home renovations yourself, you can potentially save a lot of money, but don’t forget to figure in the cost of tools and other supplies you may need to purchase.  If you make mistakes during the project, they are on you to fix and it may cost you more than you planned.

The outcome of a project depends a lot on the amount of skill that went into the work.  If you don’t have the correct skills or tools, you may end up with work that is less than satisfactory.  My tip for building your renovation skills: find people with professional-level skills (friends of friends willing to barter or work small projects for extra cash) who are willing to let you work along side them as they teach you.  You can use those skills in future projects.  

Working with a contractor may require a lot of schedule juggling, and nothing is more frustrating than taking time off from work only to have the scheduled contractor not show up.  The down side to doing the work yourself is that it may take you a lot longer to finish than a professional.

If, after considering all of these factors, you think it would be best to find a contractor, here are some helpful links that can guide you:

The contractor just finished the bathroom and while I am pleased with the result, my final word on the subject is that I think we will go back to doing-it-ourselves.   What can I say?  I have a sledge hammer and I like to use it!   So, how about you?  Are you a do-it-yourselfer?  How do you feel about home contractors?  Have you had good experiences or bad?

| Post a Comment | View Comments [5] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: do it yourself   ginger   home   home_improvement   remodeling   renovation  

Comments (5):

blue comment bubble Posted by DIY - (Almost) always on February 27, 2009 at 07:38 AM EST

Ginger! do you read my mind to come up with your posts or what? i'm going to have to make one of those aluminum foil beanies to keep you out of my head. 2 weeks in a row now!

Anyway, I am an avid do-it-yourselfer, much to the disdain of my auto mechanic and an ex-electrician. I recently broke down however and hired a contractor to replace my main electrical panel and incoming service. Even though i am fully capable of doing this myself which i figured woudl cost probably $600 and the better part of a day if not a weekend, i decided dit would be worth while to pay a contractor an extra $1000 to garantee it is done in 1 day, and i don't have to worry about getting zapped connecting up to the power company's lines. They also garantee passing the inspections by the local building and electrical inspector and the power company

As for Side jobs and bartering, as an IRS employee, i am obligated to warn you and your readers that bartering is still considered income and is taxable on the fair marker value of services bartered. http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=187904,00.html

Also when doing side work check inot the local liscensing requirements. I got busted once for doing electrical work without a liscense and had they decided to could have gone very hard on me. but they let me go with a warning and promise not to do it again, and a "donation" to the charity of their choice...

Anyway, once my circa 1960, 100 Ampere Fuse box is replaced with a 200 Amp Circuit breaker panel it's on to the rewiring of the house, adding a dishwasher, garbage disposal, range hood! Look out home depot! here i come! Time to file my taxes (http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html?portlet=4 )so i can stimulate the economy! Tax Refund time!!!!
http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96596,00.html?portlet=4

c u next week!

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blue comment bubble Posted by Ginger on February 27, 2009 at 08:16 AM EST

DIY (Almost Always), even aluminum foil beanies can not stop the psychic powers of the Ging!

I am so glad you commented. I did not know about those tax issues. Thanks for sharing that with your fellow DIYers.

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blue comment bubble Posted by tax protestor on February 27, 2009 at 10:40 AM EST

yeah, leave it to the IRS to tax you for helping your buddy!

i bet they have a class called "how to squeeze blood from a turnip"

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blue comment bubble Posted by MIchael C. on February 27, 2009 at 05:02 PM EST

With regards to your comment about if you don't have the right skills or tools you may end up with unsatisfactory work. I agree with you 100%. However, my wife and I found another alternative. When family and friends came over to visit, we made a point of showing those that had the skills our construction zone. After some a fair amount of laughter they would soon start showing me how to get the job done. We now have a beautifl full bath. Another point. We shopped the do-it-yourself type home stores for bargens. For example, we got a one piece full bath/shower that list for $498.00 for $75.00. It had some damage. The damage was small but obvious. When we addressed this with the manager of that department, she reduced the price to $50. The cost of the fiberglass repair kit was $24.95. Same type of deal with the sink, vanity and toilet. The tile was a discontinued type that went for $4.00 per tyle but we bought all they had for $0.61 a tile. We had 2 left over. Our batheroom cost under $300.00 if you don't count the harrassment we took from friends. That was priceless.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Jane@hbdesigninc.com on February 28, 2009 at 05:41 PM EST

This was hilarious! We are contractors, but I am sure my husband would use my toothbrush in any emergency! I thought you were going to talk about how quickly the brush got moldy. But if you were putting it with bleach in the toilet, it probably kept it really clean!

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