ᐅ House Photos Discussion Corner – Share Your Home Pictures!

Bookstar schrieb:

Anything you do yourself will be of much higher quality than a professional’s work.

I wouldn’t generalize it that way. On one hand, it’s estimated that 70-80% of people building their own homes are not able to carry out skilled trades properly. On the other hand, there are plenty of tradespeople who take pride in their work.
Our tiler, for example, worked with such passion that I could never have matched it. The carpenters who installed the wooden facade worked like cabinetmakers, and the painters smoothed the surfaces so perfectly they were like mirrors... I would never have achieved that myself, even though I consider myself fairly handy.

Bookstar schrieb:

Anything you do yourself will be of much higher quality than that of a tradesperson. They simply have no enthusiasm or passion and just rush through the work. When I do it myself, it’s 100% done right.

It’s a pity that you haven’t had a good experience with tradespeople. Our experience is quite the opposite. Neither yours nor mine can really be generalized.

Your statement sounds disrespectful toward the trades. You probably haven’t acquired the cross-trade skills that tradespeople develop through apprenticeships, advanced training, and years of experience—or are you some kind of craft god with unlimited tool resources? You only achieve 100% because you define your own performance that way. Who wants to work hard and especially well if they don’t feel respected?

Another reason to hire someone is simply efficiency (although not everyone has the conditions for it).
If you can pay the tradesperson, provide for your family, and save time compared to doing it yourself—all in one productive day of work—it’s just more efficient to hire it out. You can feel good about your own effort, appreciate the tradesperson’s results, and still have time to take a relaxed walk with the dog, play with the children, cook, or do whatever else you feel like for the rest of the day.

matte1987 schrieb:

I also did quite a bit myself, but I focused on what I’m capable of.
And I’m really glad I invested money in a company for the landscaping, so I don’t have to live on a construction site for years.
I experienced it with a friend who worked on his landscaping for the last four years—he’s completely fed up...

Thanks for the encouraging words. I feel exactly the same way, but I also want to learn and discover new things. If I only focused on what I already know, I wouldn’t get far. So far, I’ve done all these things for the very first time in my life: setting retaining wall blocks, building stairs, constructing a terrace, building a pergola... but I like to grow with my tasks. To be honest, though, with this massive pergola, I pleaded with my wife at times to stop me from coming up with ideas like this in the future. The next project will be cleaning the garage from all the wood dust! And to be even more honest: if I had the money, I would gladly leave the entire garden landscaping to a professional. But the pergola only cost me 700 euros in material costs, and pride comes for free!

hampshire schrieb:

Another reason to hire someone is simply efficiency (although not everyone has the means for it).
When you can pay a tradesperson on a day that’s well spent, support your family, and still save time compared to doing the work yourself, hiring help is just efficient. You feel proud of your own efforts, appreciate the tradesperson’s results, and still have time to take a relaxed walk with the dog, play with the kids, cook, or do whatever else you enjoy for the rest of the day.

However, you forget that making something yourself can be a lot of fun… and that is also highly efficient.

We are doing the entire renovation ourselves. Of course, we are not master craftsmen, but there is always something new to learn. My first plastered spot fell off again after two hours. The next walls turned out better, and by now it looks really good. My first laid tiles were slightly uneven; however, the oil tanks will be placed on them anyway. For the tiles in visible areas, I knew what was important, and they look good. For the first painted door frame, I used the wrong paint and even painted over the seal *laugh* – but with the correct paint and without the seal, it turned out pretty much perfect.

I don’t aim to do everything perfectly – that often takes too much time. I decide whether small imperfections bother me. And that is the difference between me and professional tradespeople: the grout around the sink, which I often look at, needs to be absolutely straight. The grout underneath the toilet, on the other hand, doesn’t have to be perfect because it’s simply not visible. I can decide myself where to work very precisely (and therefore spend more time) and where not. A tradesperson does their job and won’t worry too much about small tolerances.

I still stand in awe of my mother-in-law’s bathroom. It was done by a master tiler and took many days, but it is so perfectly done that it’s almost too perfect. Everything fits just right. That is craftsmanship no DIYer can easily match.