When to Hire a Professional
- nvilu7
- Aug 18
- 8 min read
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Every renovation decision is a risk-management decision.
Years ago, in my Pittsburgh home, I decided to trim some dead interior branches out of my gigantic maple tree.
I didn't watch any videos. I didn't crack open one of my many gardening books.
"How hard can it be?" I thought.
So I put on my gardening toolbelt, stuck a hand saw in it, climbed up into the tree, and started sawing.
At some point, with the saw tucked into my toolbelt, I stepped onto a branch that snapped.
As I fell, two thoughts crossed my mind almost simultaneously.
First, that's a pretty long way down.
Second, I have a hand saw resting against my stomach with nothing between me and the teeth but a T-shirt.
Fortunately, I grabbed a heavy branch on the way down and stopped my fall. I climbed the rest of the way down the tree, trying to look like I had intended to do that all along.
About then my neighbor wandered over.
"You realize," she said, "that I have 911 on speed dial since you moved into this house, don't you?"
Asking “How hard can it be?” is a terrible way to evaluate a home improvement project.
What I should have asked is, “What could go wrong?”
If I'd spent fifteen minutes consulting one of my many gardening books—or simply thought through the risks—I would have realized that casually carrying a saw in my toolbelt while climbing a tree was a really, really bad idea.
If I had thought it through, I would have at least invested in a folding pruning saw before climbing that tree.
Four Questions to Ask Before DIYing
When considering when to hire a professional, ask yourself four questions related to your:
Knowledge,
Tools,
Time, and
Physical capability.
Let’s discuss.
Do I Have the Knowledge to do This Project?
I have found that homeowners often underestimate what they can do. I’ll mention to someone that I painted my kitchen cabinets or tiled my bathroom backsplash, and they’ll look at me as if I have three heads.
No one is born knowing how to install tile, paint a room, or manage a reno.
If you don’t know how to fix something, the internet has tons of free resources that show you how to fix just about anything. Watch enough videos (or read enough articles) until you understand the expertise required. Talk to friends that have done the project to get their perspective.
Often all that is required is planning, patience, persistence, and the ability to use a few tools. But if you start getting that “uh-oh” feeling, slow your roll and listen to your Little Voice. (Mine was OOO the day I climbed that tree.)
It’s up to you to decide whether to do it yourself or recruit some help—and there’s no shame in either choice.
Do I Have the Tools Required to Do This Project?
When watching home improvement videos, note the tools used. Do you have all the tools required to do the job? Are any specialized tools required? How much will you have to spend to acquire the tools needed for the job? Will you ever use those tools again? How long will it take to learn how to use those tools?
Often DIYers assume that they can “make do” on a project by using a tool similar to the one required. I am here to tell you that you can’t.
One Sunday night I tried to change a 20-year-old scale-encrusted shower head and arm with a regular pair of pliers. It was an epic fail that resulted in a very, very, very expensive emergency visit from a plumber.
If you don’t have the right tools to do the job, and don’t want to invest in them, hire a professional.
Do I Have the Time to Complete This Project?
Whether you’re trying something new, or painting your bathroom for the fifth time, having the time to complete a project without rushing or interruption is essential.
What happens to the project if you have to make a trip to the hardware store, or if you need to apply a third coat of paint to get full coverage? Will you run into Monday morning? Will you be unhappy with the final result?
Being rushed and being interrupted can drag out the time it takes to finish a project. It can also lead to expensive mistakes and do-overs that keep your home in a state of reno chaos far longer than necessary.
The fourth time I painted my condo bathroom, I painted it an aqua shade—and hated it. In a desperate attempt to get it right, I decided to paint a metallic overlay on top of the aqua paint. The metallic paint took so long to dry that I was forced to extend the project into the next weekend.
Underestimating the metallic paint’s drying time meant that my kitchen became a sort-of bathroom stand-in for a week. Not fun.
Do I Have the Physical Capability to Do the Job?
There is no point in trying to complete a project if you’re physically incapable of doing it.
There was a time in my life when I could bench-press my own body weight. Since then I have had both shoulders and a hip replaced. While I am working on regaining body strength, there are some things that I simply can’t do anymore.
My willingness to tackle hard projects hasn’t changed. But the projects that make sense for me to tackle have.
Could I learn to hang drywall? Sure.
Could I physically hold a 4×8 sheet over my head, position it accurately, and fasten it before my shoulders give out? Nope.
But… can I repair a damaged drywall corner so well no one could ever find it?
Absolutely. I am the Michelangelo of spackle.
Do the things you can do well, and hire an expert to do the rest.
If You Answered ‘No’
If you answered ‘no’ to any of the above questions, hire a professional to do your project.
Not sure how to find a tradesperson for your project? You’ll find the answers here.
If you answered ‘Yes’ to all these questions, you’ve established that you can do the project.
Now let’s examine if you should do the project.
This is where the risk-management component kicks in.
What Can Go Wrong?
This is the question I didn’t ask when I climbed that tree with a hand saw stuck in my tool belt. Let’s break this down into a few more questions.
If I make a mistake, can I hurt myself or someone else?
If your project includes electrical work, structural changes, gas lines, or working up high, ask yourself what can go wrong? Can you fall out of a tree with a hand saw nestled against your abdomen? Could you electrocute yourself, or fall off a roof and break your neck?
If I make a mistake, can I destroy my house?
If your project includes electrical work, structural changes, window replacement, roofing, plumbing inside walls, or waterproofing a basement or a shower, one mistake can destroy your house. In the case of structural changes and electrical work, destruction can happen in the blink of an eye. The consequences of mistakes in roofing, plumbing, and waterproofing can happen months or years later.
An acquaintance who DIYed window replacement failed to fill the perimeter gaps around the window frames. Several years later, he discovered that his wood siding was rotted from the inside due to water leaking from those windows.
Sometimes a project risks compounding a DIY mistake made by a previous owner.
My Reno Diary posts have dozens of examples why I entrusted most of my reno to professionals. Here’s just one example of how wrong DIY can go:
I discovered that a previous owner had done some of the electrical work in my house. One day, the master electrician who was doing the rewiring climbed down from the attic and said, "There's a huge mass of wiring up there. I've disconnected it from the panel, but I'm not going to touch it because it scares me. Just leave it alone."
Think about that for a minute.
A master electrician looked at that wiring and decided the safest course of action was to walk away from it.
Do you have the time and expertise to 1) undo a previous owner’s misguided DIY and 2) do the job again the right way?
If I make a mistake, could it affect insurance, resale value, or code compliance?
Insurance
Your homeowner's insurance policy may require you to pull permits for a renovation project in order to insure for accidental damage sustained during a renovation (for example, like a burst pipe). Double-check your policy to see if your insurance company and your municipality’s project lists requiring permits line up.
Homeowner’s insurance usually does not cover damage sustained due to renovations that are not completed to code or completed by unlicensed or uninsured contractors. Check your policy.
Resale Value
A bad renovation mistake can hurt a home’s resale value by lowering offers, reducing the number of interested buyers, or causing deals to fall apart when the buyer and owner can’t agree on cost-to-fix estimates. From a legal perspective, unpermitted work can block buyer financing or the buyer’s ability to get homeowner’s insurance. Even though my home was significantly neglected, the fact that there was no bad renovation to undo allowed me to get insurance without an issue.
Code Compliance
All renovation work that requires a permit must be inspected at least once (depending on the project) and receive final approval before the permit can be closed. My new electrical panel did not pass inspection the first time, putting my very tight reno timeline in jeopardy. The inspector took pity on my deer-in-the-headlights reaction, called the electrical contractor on the spot, and arranged for a rework and his return visit…the next day.
Could a professional actually save me money by avoiding expensive mistakes? Am I trying to save money—or prove something?
A friend’s husband insisted that he take on finishing their unfinished basement, which was used as a playroom and was the only way to enter the house from the garage.
“How hard can it be?” he said.
Six months (and thousands invested in expensive equipment) later, the basement was so crowded with crookedly-cut drywall and equipment that it was completely unusable. No one could enter the house via the garage. The kids moved all their toys—including a mini-basketball hoop—into the family room.
It was chaos.
Refusing to admit that the project had gone off the rails, the husband went on his annual golfing trip. While he was gone, my friend quietly brought in a crew to finish the job. When her husband returned, they were $40K poorer—but had a new family room, complete with a mini-basketball hoop, and a luxe spa bathroom where my friend spent many serene hours.
“It was a rush job, so I had to pay extra,” said my friend. “Worth every penny.”
Deciding When to Hire a Professional
When deciding whether to call a professional for your renovation, it’s better to be ambitious and sensible at the same time.
I decided to act as my own contractor for my reno.
It was really, really hard.
But if I failed, no one got hurt.
If I failed, it simply meant that I moved into a house that was unfinished. And I was OK with that.
When the consequences of failure are expensive or dangerous, look really hard at the risk involved.
When deciding whether or not to DIY, don’t base your decision on whether or not the project is easy or difficult. Base it on the level of risk you’re willing to accept.
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