With the cost of hiring a handyman spiraling the amount of people digging out power tools and doing their home improvement work is increasing. DIY has become nothing short of a phenomenon, with a multitude of books, TV shows and websites dedicated to the topic of taking something in your home and making it better.
One of the main appeals of DIY is that it seems a lot cheaper and easier than calling out a professional. There are no costs for workmen, no comparing quotes and no potential for a ‘cowboy’ to come along and ruin your home. It’s just you and your power tools.
Unfortunately, DIY is far from simple. In fact, a DIY can quite easily shift from a dream to a nightmare with one misplaced press of the drill. DIY, even though it might seem it, is far from easy.
Here are five of the main reasons a DIY project fails, and how you can avoid them!
Not Budgeting Properly
Even though it’s a project carried out at home by yourself, a DIY project still needs to be treated as it would if a contractor was carrying it out. While retiling your bathroom or knocking through a wall might seem like a fun weekend project, the costs of such a project can spiral without proper planning.
The first step in proper DIY budget planning is to figure out how much money you can actually spare on the project. Be tough with yourself when determining this figure, and don’t overstretch at the expense of other financial commitments.
Once you’ve got a set figure, you can determine how far you can go with the project. Consider all the aspects of the job that are going to cost you money; tools, materials and so on. List them all and then shop around; you should be able to find everything you need within budget. If you can’t, then it might be time to consider shelving the project until you have more funds.
Not Planning Your Time Properly
Like money, the time you spend on a project also needs planning meticulously. While the implications of failing to plan your time aren’t quite as dire as failing to budget properly, improper time management can lead to a project that should take a day stretching over weeks.
To get an idea of how much time you’re going to spend on a project, break it down into various tasks. Designate each of these tasks with an estimated time, based on your level of experience and how quickly you can work. When estimating your time, always err on the side of caution.
Once you’ve got these elements, add them together and add a couple of extra hours to account for tea breaks, procrastination and any slip-ups that might leave you spending more time on the project. This is your overall project time. You can take your individual times and make a schedule, making your project much more efficient.
Not Knowing What a Project Entails
It sounds surprising, but a great deal of DIY’ers enter projects without knowing what a project fully entails. This leads to costs spiralling and a project going well over its allocated time, as well as the potential for tasks arising that you lack the knowledge to complete. The solution is often to call in contractors to finish the job at a high cost.
Before you embark on a project, no matter how easy it might sound, always read up on what tasks you need to complete on a project, what tools you are going need and the techniques you’ll need to learn. Having this knowledge beforehand can help you make an informed decision on whether to proceed with the project, and help you to plan your time and budget accordingly if you choose to proceed.
Lacking Motivation
Another massive factor in the failure of DIY projects, lacking the motivation to see through a project to its end can lead to half-finished decorations and fittings plaguing a house for years. After the wide-eyed enthusiasm that comes with embarking on a project, it’s perfectly natural to end up feeling significantly less ‘up for it’ once you realise just how much work and how long a project is going to take.
The main weapon in your fight against a lack of motivation is a proper plan, which gives you a nice guide through the project. It might also help to visualise what the finished project will look like, just to remind you that all of this work will be worth it at the end!
Poor Worksmanship
A home truth; DIY projects are more often than not pretty poor. This is because the people carrying them out lack the experience that tradesmen do and will often want to get the project done as quickly as possible.
Poor worksmanship, however, can be avoided by doing a simple bit of research. With a plethora of books and blogs on the topic of DIY, anyone with tools and a bit of ambition can carry out their own DIY project.
Doing a bit of ‘rough work’ can also help iron out any bad worksmanship; if you’re drilling, for example, practice on a bit of wood beforehand. Basically, wherever there is a technique you aren’t sure of, practise it before you go ahead and try it on the final project!
Image credit: Digital Internet
Christopher Smith is writing on behalf of Excel Compressors, specialist suppliers of used air compressors for home DIY purposes.
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