Do you do house DIY tasks yourself or get a professional to do it or a mix of both?

[howow]

Do you do house DIY tasks yourself or get a professional to do it or a mix of both?

If it's a mix of both - which do you get the professional to do and which do you do yourself as DIY? Why/why not?

I subscribe firmly to GALMI (get a little man in) rather than DIY. honestly - because I can afford to and I have better things to do with my time.

Things like flat pack furniture we do ourselves, but decorating or hanging pictures we get someone in.

A mix. I do decorating/general repair jobs myself but have a good electrician and plumber to call on when required.

I do both, I do all filling, sanding, painting and dh can do electrics anything else we get someone in. I'm lucky as mil partner is a handyman and pretty much helps us out with most things. I enjoy diy

We do anything like painting, Sanding, hanging stuff, or even fixing stuff if we are capable ourselves. We only get folks in when it’s something that requires someone qualified, Ie plumber or electrician (unless it’s just changing to a new light fitting) , or if it’s something high up, Ie decorating hall, or a tree surgeon.

Basically if we can do it we will. Otherwise we get someone in, but if we think we can do it, we will have a crack.

My dh does literally everything except for plastering and fencing - plastering because he cannot do it as well as a professional and fencing because it’s a hard job to do on his own and manually hard labour ( he’s 60+) . He has fitted bathrooms , is expert at wood floors , patios , decking and general decorating . We don’t get anyone in because dh has very exacting standards which most tradesmen fall short on and it’s not worth it as he then ends up redoing stuff so a waste of money . He’s a perfectionist albeit quite a slow working one .

We do most things ourselves. This year that will include a lot of decorating, servicing the boiler and Rayburn, a reasonable amount of basic plumbing troubleshooting, fencing, tree surgery...

The decision making generally comes down to finances. For us it tends to work out faster to do the work than work the extra to pay for someone else to do it, if marginal rates were lower and labour cheaper we would outsource more.

I have to work three extra days to have enough net income to get a plumber in at £300 a day, so I would rather spend one or two days doing the work myself and use the extra day saved for something else.

Most painting and decorating and things like putting up blinds/curtain poles and flat pack etc we do between DH and I. Will change bulbs in car, put up a light fitting and general small repairs ourselves too.

Anything bigger like electrics and plumbing, laying floors and outdoor painting like the soffits etc we get someone in to do.

Hate painting the ceilings so contemplating getting someone in to just paint all the ceilings but that feels strange and lazy even though we could afford it.

My dad does it - I'm 30+ and have been a homeowner for 10 years - also have a DH but my dad likes to feel useful and to help my and my siblings - he's ace

Straightforward painting, putting shelves/pictures up we ourselves. Anything more complicated like plumbing, electrical, boiler etc we get someone in.

Neither of us is particularly handy and sadly we’ve lived in 2 houses with A LOT of dodgy diy that’s obviously been done by someone who didn’t know what they were doing but thought they’d ‘give it a go’. Examples include a random wire sticking out of a bedroom floor, tiles glued on in the bathroom and a pergola / tiered decking we’ve recently ripped out of our current garden that was held together with short bolts and nails - not a drop of concrete in sight

My husband is a plumber/builder so does everything structural and I do the cosmetic stuff - painting, glossing, etc. He doesn't do gas or electricity but he has friends we pay to do that.

Our house was very dated when we moved in and the last owners bodged a lot of things so we kept discovering weird 'fixes' that needed sorting. We have the skills, I'm a teacher so get the holidays so have time and we both like being creative and doing things ourselves. If my husband wasn't a builder we wouldn't be able to afford to pay people to come in. It works out a lot cheaper this way for us especially with his trade discounts.

@helpfulperson

Better things to do? Such as patronising skilled tradespeople possibly.

Sadly neither of us has DIY skills, so we have to pay someone to do it. We also very much value what little free time we have, so it works well for us, if we can also give the business to a skilled local person.

I pay someone to do it. My flat is beautiful and perfectly decorated and I didn't do a single bit of it.

We do a good chunk of it ourselves.
Electrics, replacing skirting/architrave, painting, bits and pieces of plumbing, hanging stuff, decorating, patios etc we do ourselves. Much harder now, with a toddler and me working weekends but we eventually get there.

Plastering we get someone in.
Bathroom we paid to have completely done as it was out only bathroom at the time and we couldn’t obviously be without it for too long.

My dad helps with other stuff, kitchen fitting, tiling. He’s pretty handy at most stuff, as is dh.

We don’t get anyone in because dh has very exacting standards which most tradesmen fall short on and it’s not worth it as he then ends up redoing stuff so a waste of money . He’s a perfectionist albeit quite a slow working one .

Bloody hell @Floralnomad are we somehow both living with the same man?!

We do it ourselves because we can't afford to get someone in. DH is pretty handy, but imho a bit slow and a bit of a perfectionist. I'm fast and practical and a little slapdash...

Blimey! Cross posted but clearly several of us are living with the same man...no wonder he's slow at DIY..😘😘

I can afford to get some one in to do it now, but in the past I wallpapered, painted etc myself. Wouldn't touch any electrics or plumbing - though I did fix my toilet recently after watching how to on youtube.

In theory we do it ourselves. DH is handy and a perfectionist (another one). In practice we have three kids and work full time and live in a shit hole.

I do most things like wallpapering, painting, tiling, laying carpets and basic electrical jobs such as replacing light fittings and switches but get tradespeople in for external jobs like roof repairs.

We do nothing ourselves. Absolutely nothing. The thought of painting or anything like that just makes me want to cry. I’d rather go without it being done.

Forgot to say reasons, I do most of it myself because I enjoy it and it saves a fortune in labour plus I know I'll take care and do a good job.

Reasons to don't do roof repairs is because I hate being up tall ladders.

I decorate because I can. I am slower than a professional but it's good when I'm done and I enjoy it. I will do small repairs if I've watched three videos and decided it was within my skillset so I've changed light fittings, fixed windows that wouldn't close, changed locks (ridiculously easy that one, who knew?) and done a bit of pointing using my best cake decorating skills. I pay the plumber to do things I could do myself because he does a far better job than I do and he has an endless supply of parts on his van.

I would love to get a little man in except I have not yet managed to source one. I'm sure they are out there but their phone numbers are a closely guarded secret, if everyone knows their number then it's a longer wait for their services.

Depends

I can unblock sinks and plumb in a dishwasher or washing machine bit would need a plumber for the boiler or outside tap or new tap etc

I can wallpaper and paint

Last flooring I chipped the old tiles off but asked the professionals to fit the new one as it was a huge awkward area.

Electrics I can change a plug and have done ceiling lights before now, bit would air a professional as one is round the corner and pops in on his way home.

I don’t mind stripping wall paper or tiles.

Last bathroom I organised the trades and brought all the supplies and saved £2000 without actually doing any physical work.

No idea why you would pay someone to hang a picture!