When you don’t know how to make something and do not want to learn, I recommend buying or hiring. You don’t have to be the jack of all trades in your home. You need to accept there are some things you are going to have to buy or hire out.
Here’s why:
- Hiring a pro can save money, in some cases
- Hiring a pro almost always saves time
- Hiring a pro can save your relationship
Sometimes you can even save money by buying know how or skills. For example, if you attempt to re-upholster a complex piece of furniture and ruin all the fabric your purchased in the process, you may have been better off hiring a professional from the start.
You can almost always save time by buying or hiring. I have never paid a professional painter, but I am sure if I did my house would have been painted in much less than the two and half years it has taken us (on and off, of course). Oh yeah, I bet they would have painted the whole living room, too…not just the bottom half (see more about that here).
You can sometimes spare a relationship by hiring a pro. Large DIY projects are usually not solo jobs. When you need help, you may turn to family and friends. A lengthy, difficult, or exhausting DIY project can put a strain on any relationship. If you might be in over your head, consider hiring a pro.
When we considered hanging the drywall in our basement ourselves, we mentally ran through a few scenarios.
- What if it sucked? This would have killed me. I am a perfectionist and I like my walls smooth.
- What if it was too hard? To lift the drywall? To cut it? To mud it? To sand it? Well, then surely we would stop when it got too hard and call a pro.
- When were we going to do it? After the kids go to bed. I am sure they can sleep through all the noise. Yeah, right!
See how we quickly realized we were crazy for even thinking of DIYing the drywall? If it sucked, if it was too hard, if it woke the kids up…all those things would have hindered progress and put a strain on our relationship as a couple and family. Hiring out the job was the best thing for us. All the drywall was up, primed, and ready to paintin one week!
Before I leave you, I want to highly recommend a pro for some key areas in your home. For electrical work and plumbing you should always go pro. For electrical, we have changed a dimmer or installed a light, but for anything more complicated we hire a pro. For plumbing, we have changed a sink faucet, but for anything bigger we hire a pro. Honestly, changing that faucet was such a pain…we would hire a pro for that now, too.
