Beware of DIY Project Deadlines

When a neighbor asked me how long she should schedule to remodel her bathroom before a family party I was quick to respond “as long as it takes.” I’ve learned that a carved in stone deadline (like an anniversary) is not the best incentive to complete an extensive improvement project because it creates added stress to an already stressful project. Having part of a house torn apart is unpleasant enough, it only gets worse with a looming completion deadline.

DIYers are often the worst homeowners for assuming everything will work flawlessly according to the plan with no unforeseen kinks in the process. They believe what they see on the DIY shows where everything is completed in a 22 minute program. Their blinded optimism doesn’t account for Murphy’s Law throwing a wrench in the progress of the work.

Even with well thought out planning, measuring, ordering and installing of new materials you can’t always account for the unexpected. When an old bathroom vanity is pulled away from the wall you might expose plumbing lines that need to be replace or rerouted. A new line for an electrical outlet might not be as simple to reroute as anticipated. More time can be eaten up if a building permit is required. The shipment for new floor tile or fixtures can arrive on time, but when inspected they’re found to be damaged or not what you ordered. Any of these setbacks will add time and money to the job and plenty of frustration.

As you plan any DIY project and do your due diligence, consider doubling the time you estimate because it’s better to be early than late. We have guidelines for the cost and time requirements for more than 350 home improvements at www.diyornot.com. We hope you’ll visit and use the information for your next project.

Bonus Storage Space – The Attic

Listen to anyone who has moved from one house to another and they sound like born again zealots preaching that they will never again accumulate stuff they don’t need or want.  We’re guilty of being in that crowd despite our best efforts to downsize and scale back to fight the urge to live large.

But I have to admit two of the best improvements we ever made to a house were adding pull-down stairs and installing an attic floor to tap the storage potential up there. Without a basement or garage the house was screaming for storage space. In a second floor bedroom there was a small opening hatch that barely anyone could fit through so we poked a hole in the ceiling and added a folding attic stair unit.  Then we installed floor sheeting to span across the rafters and provide easy access to boxes and must-have stuff. Considering the cost of each upgrade I think it was money well spent.

How much should you budget for these jobs? The national average cost to hire a contractor to install an attic stair unit is $647, or if you have carpentry experience and are comfortable cutting a hole in your ceiling, you can buy the unit for $220.  Here’s a link to our cost analysis  Install Attic Stairs.

You’ll pay a carpenter $252 to install flooring in a 10-foot square area, but you can do it for $120, the cost of the material. Follow this link to learn more Install an Attic Floor.

To find the cost of hundreds of improvement projects costs and compare doing it yourself with hiring a contractor go to www.diyornot.com or http://www.diyornot.com on your smartphone.

Timing is Everything with a DIY Project

Gene and Katie Hamilton

When a neighbor asked me how long she should schedule to remodel her bathroom before a family party I was quick to respond “as long as it takes.” I’ve learned that a carved in stone deadline (like an anniversary) is not the best incentive to complete an extensive improvement project because it creates added stress to an already stressful project. Having part of a house torn apart is unpleasant enough, it only gets worse with a looming completion deadline.

DIYers are often the worst homeowners for assuming everything will work flawlessly according to the plan with no unforeseen kinks in the process. Their blinded optimism doesn’t account for Murphy’s Law throwing a wrench in the progress of the work.

Even with well thought out planning, measuring, ordering and installing of new materials you can’t always account for the unexpected. When an old bathroom vanity is pulled away from the wall you might expose plumbing lines that need to be replace or rerouted. A new line for an electrical outlet might not be as simple to reroute as anticipated. More time can be eaten up if a building permit is required. The shipment for new floor tile or fixtures can arrive on time, but when inspected they’re found to be damaged or not what you ordered. Any of these setbacks will add time and money to the job and plenty of frustration.

As you plan any DIY project and do your due diligence, consider doubling the time you estimate because it’s better to be early than late. We have guidelines for the cost and time requirements for more than 350 home improvements at www.diyornot.com. We hope you’ll visit and use the information for your next project.

Thoughts for a Wannabe Fixer Upper

Gene and Katie Hamilton

Not everyone is cut out to be a fixer upper. I think it requires certain personality traits and skills that few people possess. To begin with you have to be extremely well organized and able to work within a timeframe and budget. Now, if you have unlimited time and money you’re what I call a recreational fixer upper and few rules apply because it’s a hobby. But most people who want to renovate a house have time and money constraints so being orderly and organized are key traits to possess.

If you’re organized from the start you’ll have created a master plan for the work and a budget large enough to support the work. That requires a good handle on finances and a realistic approach to what things cost. It’s a given that the first time you renovate a house you will underestimate the time and money required. We know. After completing our first house fix up we doubled our cost estimates and tripled the time and we got more realistic with future renovations.

The idea for our column Do It Yourself or Not came from us learning just how much the projects cost because we couldn’t find that information anywhere. Today there are several contractor cost databases and references available so we can estimate costs for hundreds of improvements and upgrades.

A home renovator should be decisive and by that I mean able to make decisions quickly. Murphy’s law always applies when working on a house because there are so many unknowns. Who knows what you’ll find behind a wall – surely not an unexpected electrical line that appears to lead nowhere. And it’s not until you put a nail through a copper pipe in the bathroom floor (that you didn’t know was there) that you create a major leak. So being decisive and able to react to a problem and solve it will keep you moving forward with your project.

Communication skills don’t come naturally to everyone but they come in handy when dealing with subcontractors and material suppliers. And if you don’t like confrontation your project will take a lot longer. When cabinets aren’t delivered or a dumpster hasn’t arrived your work schedule can have a serious setback. If you’re not comfortable flipping open your cell phone to find out what’s the delay you could be in for a long wait.

Maybe most important is your ability to laugh at the mistakes and miscalculations you made and chalk them up to experience. In the end, having a sense of humor will keep you going when you locked yourself out of the house and have to climb in the window.

We hope you’ll visit us at www.diyornot.com and m.diyornot.com when you’re looking the cost of home improvement projects. You can type in your zipcode for a regional cost. Go forth and fix.

Bonus Storage Space – The Attic

Listen to anyone who has moved from one house to another and they sound like born again zealots preaching that they will never again accumulate stuff they don’t need or want.  We’re guilty of being in that crowd despite our best efforts to downsize and scale back to fight the urge to live large.

But I have to admit two of the best improvements we ever made to a house were adding pull-down stairs and installing an attic floor to tap the storage potential up there. Without a basement or garage the house was screaming for storage space. In a second floor bedroom there was a small opening hatch that barely anyone could fit through so we poked a hole in the ceiling and added a folding attic stair unit.  Then we installed floor sheeting to span across the rafters and provide easy access to boxes and must-have stuff. Considering the cost of each upgrade I think it was money well spent.

How much should you budget for these jobs? The national average cost to hire a contractor to install an attic stair unit is $647, or if you have carpentry experience and are comfortable cutting a hole in your ceiling, you can buy the unit for $220.  Here’s a link to our cost analysis  Install Attic Stairs.

You’ll pay a carpenter $252 to install flooring in a 10-foot square area, but you can do it for $120, the cost of the material. Follow this link to learn more Install an Attic Floor.

To find the cost of hundreds of improvement projects costs and compare doing it yourself with hiring a contractor go to www.diyornot.com or http://www.diyornot.com on your smartphone.