Everyone knows DIY home improvement projects save you money. Whether you’re improving your home for a better living, or to raise its market value, the greatest reward however is not the money normally. It is the satisfaction of knowing that you did it yourself.
Let’s face it though. Homeowners like you and I are mostly amateurs at home improvement projects. We over estimate our skill levels and become disappointed when we fail to complete the do-it-yourself home repair in time and within budget. More often than not, we just abandon the projects half-way through.
You don’t have to let that happen to you. After several failures, I have taken the advice from friends and the professionals and compiled them into a list of quick home improvement tips. They’ve helped make my last few DIY home improvement a success and I hope they’ll help you too.
1. Plan, Plan and Plan Some More
You can’t go wrong planning ahead and be prepared. Work out the project in your head, put it down on paper, then go through it again carefully when you do the actual work. Get more materials than you need. Wastes and scraps do occur in DIY home repair. You’ll be glad when you don’t have to drive back and forth the hardware store to get yet another piece of wood, or yet another pail of paint.
2. Divide and Conquer
Divide the whole home improvement repair project into smaller tasks that are complete on their own. Don’t think of painting the entire house inside and outside, upstairs and downstairs in one weekend. Think about painting your kid’s room or the kitchen. They will be much easier to handle one small job at a time. And in case the whole project drags on for a while, at least things won’t be so messy.
3. Better Safe Than Sorry
When the professionals need to wear hard hats and protective glasses, what makes you think you’re better and don’t need those gears? Ear plugs, dusk masks, safety boots are all essential safety gears depending on the type of do-it-yourself home repair job. Don’t have any of them? Well, which you would prefer: Spending money to get the gears now, or to pay the hospital bills later? Your choice.
4. Quality Counts
Saving money by skimping on quality materials and tools is a bad idea. Sure your do-it-yourself home improvement will cost less. Instead of lasting for 10 years though, maybe you’ll have to redo the project in another 5 years. The right tools will probably get the job done in a month but now you need 3 months or more. You may save money in the short term, but it may cost you more in the long run. Be reasonable though. Don’t pay for quality out of your reach.
5. Complete the Job
Don’t leave your DIY home improvement project hanging. Finish it. Maybe you’re out of time to complete the project this weekend. So put the tools away, and remember to bring them out again next weekend. Don’t ever start more home improvement projects unless you’ve finished the current one. If you don’t stick to this rule, nothing will ever get done. Really.
