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?

Oh and plastering.... we tried in one room..... it looks..... rustic!

When I watch plasterers I just don’t understand how they can make that sloppy stuff a) stay on the wall and b) look so smooth. They are witches! WITCHES I tell you......

Bit of both, and half the time get dad or fil over to show us.

We had a decorator in to paint the hall stairs and landing and tile the kitchen late last year but we painted the bedrooms and livingroom. He also wallpapered ds room

I can do most things myself, if I can't do it DH probably can. If he can't or we need a certificate we get a professional in.

Flat pack ourselves everything else get someone in. I’d rather someone did it properly than us bumbling around.

Bit of both. DH is very handy and can do most stuff but if it's time-consuming or a pain in the arse then we'd rather just throw money at it than spend the time. At the moment, we are more time poor than money poor so that makes more sense to us. If it was the other way round, we would do more ourselves.

We won't touch electrics or plumbing but the rest we do ourselves. We'd spoke about getting someone in for wallpapering but DS1 has discovered a knack for it so he works with DH to get it done now!

We don’t do much with electric apart from change light fittings, and we never go near gas (luckily we don’t have gas anymore)

90% of it we do ourselves both me and Dh are pretty handy, watch lots of you tube tutorials and have a practice run.

We have never tried plastering it something we have never needed. But I’ve heard it’s bloody hard 🤷‍♀️

I can tile walls and floors, lay wooden flooring, do things like coving and skirting boards, Again pretty good at most things

Ooh, I wish I could do plastering!

One room in our house has the weirdest ceiling - it's like someone took chunks out of it all over, so it looks pock-marked. I'd love to do something about it but, obviously, can't get someone in (because renting) and would make a mess myself.

I'll have a go at most things. Really the only things I won't tackle are things that could be very dangerous if I got them wrong! People like decorators charge £££ and I can do it myself and do a good job. Plus it's way more satisfying to look and think "I did that". But then I wouldn't have a cleaner or a gardener either. I personally think it sets a good example to DC to show them that as a woman, I can still decorate and do DIY and don't have to call a man in! Plus they've learnt how to do a lot of things now from me.

We had pros in to build our extension.

I have:
Built our fence (didn't use premade panels, constructed it from scratch)
All decorating
Flat pack
Built raised beds
Laid a pathway in the garden
Repointed a brick wall
Hanging pictures, shelves, kitchen units
Built a table from scratch
DH and I have levelled ground and poured a concrete base twice
DH does small electric work
Both done minor plumbing
I'm about to build a retaining wall

I enjoy doing things myself (and if I can do something instead of pay someone else I will... I'm thrift tight )

We'll do everything except plastering and roofing.

One is an art form and the other is dangerous.

We usually do flat pack furniture, easy repairs and painting and decorating ourselves. However, young kids, work etc means nothing is getting done at the moment so I am very tempted to get someone in to decorate. Problem is everything needs doing, we want an extension, roof needs repair etc and it all costs money so have just been saving for the big stuff. Hard to figure out what to prioritise when it all needs doing.

Dh can do electrics, plumbing, and just about everything tbh. However it depends on his workload to how quickly he can do it. We do have someone in to do the hedges and general maintenance of the garden but ds3 earns money to do the lawn.

We do a mixture. We don't do any plumbing ourselves. OH is happy to change light switches/sockets (i.e. take off if we're decorating or change a single socket to a double etc) and change ceiling lights, etc. Likewise, he'll remove/replace a door, door locks, etc but wouldn't fit a new door himself.

Re decorating, we fully decorated (wallpaper, painting etc) ourselves, inside and out when we bought our house (inc the hall, landing and staircase wallpapering which was a challenge). Then we started having decorators in to change rooms etc., but never really happy with them (despite them being qualified/experienced etc), so have gone back to doing our own again.

Gardening has also been mixed. Again, at first we did everything we could ourselves even felled a couple of short-ish trees. But then got a gardener for grass cutting and pruning etc but only had him a year or two - not really happy as he'd just randomly hack some shrubs and ignore others so the garden became quite messy and unsightly, so we're back to doing it ourselves.

We also got a cleaning firm to come and power wash the patios, decking, etc., but they did a shoddy job too, so we've bought our own Karcher and now do it ourselves.

So, really, our approach is to let the qualified pros (Gas safe plumber and qualified Electrician) to do the things which are potentially dangerous, but do virtually everything else ourselves. Often cheaper to buy the tools you need and invest a bit of time to get a better result.

Dh does everything including plumbing, electrical, tiling, appliance repairs, painting, garden redesign..
It has saved thousands over the years.

I do painting, hanging pictures, flat pack, etc myself. I get someone in for electricals, plumbing and sometimes odd jobs just to save my time.

I've just realised I was lying when I said we did everything ourselves. I'd forgotten about plastering. That really is one of the Dark Arts and is about the only thing DH won't now attempt. Not a whole wall anyway - he will fill in holes etc but the times he has attempted large areas haven't ended well! Fortunately my nephew is a plasterer and has done the remedial work in exchange for a few beers.

@Gunpowder don’t be ashamed! Everyone is different skill sets and preferences (and spare time!). I don’t there should be any sort of moral judgement on whether you do diy or get someone in.

Think of it as providing work for a local tradesperson 👍🏻

We do a lot ourselves. DH is good with electrics and will change sockets/light switches etc. I’m good at tiling. Decorating is a mixture some we have done ourselves and some got someone in. DH put a new loft ladder in last week and fitted a new seal on the toilet. We are getting someone in to fit a new fence and build a new shed. We could do it ourselves but are getting too old and lazy to dig all the holes for the fences! Gas and roofing we always get someone in as it’s too dangerous.