Decorating-DIY or professional?

[Retrievemysanity]

We’ve bought a doer-upper because we must be out of our minds. Anyway, literally everything needs doing to it. Got a builder on hand to do a kitchen diner extension and deal with various other stuff but to keep costs down we were going to do the majority of the decorating ourselves. However, builder says we may as well get a professional in to do the job properly as they’ll do it in no time and the standard would match what people expect for the area when we eventually sell in 8 or so years time. Anyone got any thoughts? I’m not working so can spend weekdays at the house decorating. We’re not currently living in it but expect to be in within a few months.

If you've got the time then go for it but it is hard work.

Are you getting it all replastered?

We've taken on all the decorating ourselves on a renovation and it is hard work but we're working full time and have a baby and toddler so time is short.

The worst part is the prep... stripping wallpaper then after plastering, if you need it, it's filling dents, caulking, sanding, cleaning out the dust, several coats of paint, priming and undercoating woodwork if that's new, same for doors.

It's taking forever but you'd probably power through!

It saves a lot of money doing it yourself but there's a reason for it... hard work!

We got someone in. It wasn't cheap but they made a silk purse out of a pig's ear. A house that hadn't been redecorated since 1980s - and badly done then. 120 year old walls with bits bashed out, bodge jobs where nails hammered into the walls - original panelling that looked like it was about to fall off.

I was convinced we'd need a reskim but they did an amazing job. If we'd done it - it would have been half as good and taken 10 times as long. It was absolutely worth it. And when we come to do it again - when it needs a refresh for selling say - it'll be really easy.

If you aren't living in the house - even easier - they'll go through it in no time.

Tbh I would say it depends on what you need doing, is it painting or wallpapering? Tiling, plastering etc. If it is something semi eaily such as painting the walls and woodwork I would do that. Once you get to plastering, tiling wallpapering laying new floors etc I would get a professional in

Well... all walls have wallpaper on them at the mo. I made a start stripping one bedroom today and it’s come off well and I don’t think it’ll need replastering. DH made a start on a different room at the weekend and some plaster has come off so might need to be partially replastered. We want maybe one feature wall with wallpaper in most rooms and the rest of the walls painted so that bit I don’t think will be too bad it’s more the prep beforehand. I think my concern is that if we spend money on the decorating, that if the extension, boiler, wiring, bathroom refurb etc goes over budget, then we’re a bit stuffed!

Personally i'll always get someone in, they are so much quicker and means no tidy/prep for me, also despite having edging brushes and various other bits of kit i'm still useless and never get neat edges

As others have said, it's a lot of work.

There are also some jobs I would never touch - like plastering.

Other than that, then most decorating jobs are quite DIY-able.

If you've got a lot on your plate then perhaps get a decorator in for the fiddly work that you don't want to do but otherwise do the rest yourself.

You'll probably be looking at around £150-200 per day for a tradesman depending on where you live.

Don't do feature walls, that will save time/effort

Get some quotes. We factored it into the total budget and it still left us with a healthy contingency.

As I said, we could have done it - but it would have taken us every weekend and evening for weeks.

Depends on how flush you feel I suppose when we did up our 1930s, got builders in to do the wiring, plumbing, kitchen and bathroom.

We did all the painting ourselves. We would have had to have bought inferior fittings and furniture if we had paid out for decorating....

It’s all down to money really. Of course a professional will probably do a better job, and do it quicker than you can. But redecorating an entire house can cost an eye watering amount of money, and it depends if you need to spend that money elsewhere.

Personally we chose to do it ourselves as it was saving us £1k+ and we had enough to spend money on already. It is one of the few things that you actually CAN do yourselves if needed, and do a reasonable job of, whereas stuff like replacing a boiler/rewiring etc has to be done by professionals so you don’t have the option to save money.

@Retrievemysanity

Well... all walls have wallpaper on them at the mo. I made a start stripping one bedroom today and it’s come off well and I don’t think it’ll need replastering. DH made a start on a different room at the weekend and some plaster has come off so might need to be partially replastered. We want maybe one feature wall with wallpaper in most rooms and the rest of the walls painted so that bit I don’t think will be too bad it’s more the prep beforehand. I think my concern is that if we spend money on the decorating, that if the extension, boiler, wiring, bathroom refurb etc goes over budget, then we’re a bit stuffed!

with what you've said, do it yourself as materials not expensive vs labour, & you have time

If you are disatisfied, you can get someone in to do it later, but it sounds like you have other priorities for now

I am typing this as a painter is doing 2 rooms for me (new plaster) at a cost of 1K - but I don't have the time to do that and a busy job. Once he is done I will do any refreshes myself

PS - with the plaster coming off, holiding the stripper down in 1 spot too long can make this happen, as I have learned to my cost lately!

DIY! Especially on freshly plastered walls, you'll be fine. Buy a good cutting in brush and watch a couple of Youtube videos.

If I was going to be doing up a house I was planning to live in for a few years I would definitely pay a professional.

I’ve done all the painting in our current place and it kills me that the edges aren’t perfect. No matter how carefully I use the edging brush or frog tape, I can’t get it perfect.

It's down to money and your whole personality!

We live in a renovation and love doing it ourselves, learning skills, spending time and getting the challenges done. We've always been hands on so it wouldn't cross our minds to pay anyone to do it and we don't have lots of spare income.

The sense of achievement is worth the hard work, but if that's not you, then 100% get someone in to do it..

Saying that all of the window frames need doing and I've very tempted to get a cost for someone to do that job 🤣

We always pay a professional as neither of us are particularly skilled at DIY, and it's also not good use of our time. But if you're not working at the moment and think that you could do a good job, then you should have a go! Can you only do weekends, though??

Hmmm a real mixed bag of views then! @HouseyHouse21 I can do weekdays when the kids are at school. DH can do a bit at weekends but I’d rather he didn’t. I’ve not done much DIY before just a bit of painting, DH has wallpapered a few walls in the current house and it’s been fine.
@beggingforsleep wow, you see when I hear that, I feel bad for even thinking about a professional!! Hats off to you.

Oh thanks so much. What do you think about Tyndall Rd and Huxley Rd in Leyton? That sort of area?

Whenever i've got quotes for doing basic decorating we've always ended up just doing it ourselves because the quotes have been so high it didn't make financial sense to NOT to do it.
Masking tape & a smear of £1 decorators caulk over the top will give you fast pinstripe edges every time :)

We've just had two separate decorators do really poor work in our flat so we will never use decorators again. It's so hard to find decent tradesmen and there seem to be a lot of lazy painter / decorators based on what we've seen!

Also, you'll need to repaint a place within 8 years regardless of who does the redecorating.

@kirinm yes we did have a guy do some painting in the house we are in at the moment and it was really poor to the extent that the builder called him back in to improve it!
@FurierTransform thanks for the tip!