THE 4 HOME RENOVATION PROJECTS YOU COULD DIY BUT SHOULD HIRE OUT INSTEAD

Ok last week I shared the 4 home renovation projects that anyone can do themselves! Check it out – you might be surprised by some of the projects I listed! Today, I have a new list for you – the 4 projects you could do yourself but should hire out instead. I’m all about doing the work yourself and saving some cash, but in our experience there are a handful of projects that are just not worth the hassle/stress/risk. Shall we dive in?

HANGING DRYWALL/TAPING/MUDDING

Of all the projects we’ve done, taping and mudding is by far the most grueling task! It’s messy, dusty, and if you don’t do it perfectly the imperfections will be obvious. It also takes a long time since you have to sand and re-coat your mud several times. It’s the one project that we hate doing! For that reason, if we ever tackle another fixer upper down the road we will most definitely hire a professional crew to tackle this project. Most likely they’ll finish the job faster than you would be able to and if you find the right crew, their work will look more professional too!

 

HANGING DOOR JAMS

Just like taping and mudding, you have to be a perfectionist to get this job done right. Because houses are never perfectly straight, it can be difficult to get your door jam level while also making sure that the bottom of the door is the right distance from the floor. There’s a lot of moving pieces and measurements that can easily be forgotten and ultimately it always takes us a long time to get it right. In fact, during one of our own renovation projects we had to re-install one particular door jam 5 times because it was nearly impossible to get the door jam level compared to the wall which was very much crooked. Encountering situations like this is not uncommon so for that reason, it might be a good idea to just hire that job out to someone who’s done it a million times. It’ll save you from insanity for sure!

PAINTING YOUR KITCHEN CABINETS

If you’re saving your kitchen cabinetry and you plan on giving it a fresh coat of paint, you may want to consider hiring that out. Every blog post I’ve ever read says that painting your cabinets is an easy way to update your kitchen; and everyone suggests doing it yourself. I HATE painting and if I attempted a massive project like that I would go insane! I’m way too much of a perfectionist to be able to paint cabinets in a way that I would be proud of. Brush strokes will inevitably show and you’ll have to do several coats in order to get the coverage you need. No thank you. Not to mention there are very specific steps and types of paint/cleaner that you need to use in order for the paint to adhere and stay beautiful long term. There’s just too many things that could go wrong resulting in your cabinetry looking like a DIY project. Hire that out to a professional who has experience and a spray gun. The project will get done the right way and your stress levels will drop!

CONCRETE COUNTERTOPS

This job is for someone who has a lot of patience, skill, and experience. I’ve seen DIY home renovators tackle this project with an incredible outcome, but it’s risky! It’s one of those projects that you could spend $1,000 on supplies and gear to do yourself (compared to $3,000-$4,000 to hire it out) but if you mess it up, you just wasted a lot of money on something you have to replace. For that reason, it’s worth it to hire someone who has plenty of experience making concrete countertops so that it’s done right the first time!

 

Now that I’ve officially destroyed your confidence in home renovations, do you need a little pick-me-up? Last week I shared 4 home renovation projects that are much easier than you think. So easy in fact that pretty much anyone can do them! Check that out here.