Kitchen Remodeling: Should You Call a Professional or DIY

Kitchen remodeling is one of the best ways to increase the resale value of your home. It can get you around $8,000 to $10,000 more than the standard price. Moreover, it provides almost 80% of ROI. But despite all the tempting benefits, we always try Do-It-Yourself (DIY) kitchen remodeling to save some more.

A DIY model is a budget-friendly option for kitchen remodeling, but it is not always the best choice. So when should you hire a professional and when to DIY? Well, the answer depends on the situation. Both hiring a general contractor (GC) or DIYing have a specific set of benefits and disadvantages. For instance, a DIY kitchen remodel is cost-effective, and you can do it at your pace. On the other hand, hiring a GC gives you superior quality and fast services.

You need to consider all these pros and cons along with the entire scope of the project, its importance to your house, your skill level, budget, etc., to decide whether to call a professional or DIY kitchen remodeling. Here are some standard kitchen remodeling projects you can DIY and some you should not.

Projects You Should Not Do Yourself

These projects require expertise, which a typical homeowner usually doesn’t have. Hence, if these things fall inside the scope of your project, you would want to hire a GC.

Structural Changes

If the scope of your kitchen remodeling includes any structural changes, it is best to hire professionals. Doing structural changes yourself can quickly lead to significant damages to your kitchen. For instance, if you try to create an open-concept kitchen yourself and end up misplacing supports and beams, it might damage the entire structure, which will be costly to repair.

Open-concept kitchen requires optimizing drawer and cabinet space because you need more roaming areas in that model. It means that you need to design and create drawers to be more spacious. Doing all of this without an expert is not advisable.

You can hire a professional kitchen remodeling and design company for any structural changes project. They can not only help you with the design but also with the right resources to implement it. Moreover, you also get to consult on designs and budgets.

Plumbing

Plumbing is professionals’ work. After watching a few YouTube videos, it may seem that you can do simple things like installing a new faucet yourself, but that’s not the case. Even if you manage to do that, it is precarious.

Suppose you install a new faucet inappropriately. It can leak and damage the walls of your house. The leakage can further penetrate to the bottom of your home and into the basements, leading to further damage.

An example of a basement flood causing severe damage is that of San Diego’s “Air & Space Museum.” The water rushed into the basement after a car broke the fire hydrant in the park behind the museum, where they stored aircraft, archives, and artifacts.

If you live in San Diego and try to do plumbing all by yourself, such a thing can happen to your house, too. Hence, it is best to seek help from a GC for a kitchen remodel in San Diego.

Electrical or Mechanical Work

Hazardous projects refer to the ones that involve some mechanical, electrical, or HVAC requirements. These are the aspects that professionals better handle. In fact, updating plumbing and electrical units can also help you save on insurance.

When these electrical and mechanical settings in your house are up to date, insurance companies consider them to be safety measures that can cause unwanted accidents, helping you save on premiums. Hence, it only makes sense to get these things done by a GC.

Projects You Can Do Yourself

While the ones mentioned above are some projects that you should not do yourself, there are some fundamental ones that you can try to bring down the costs. A minor kitchen remodel can cost between $10,000 to $15,000 on average. Basically, it can cost you a fortune. Hence, it makes complete sense to do some basic things yourself to save money. Here’s what you can do.

Painting

Painting is very straightforward. You need to select the paint you want to apply, a brush, a pair of hand gloves, and you are all set to take over the task. The only thing you need to take care of here is that some paints may contain hazardous chemicals you want to prevent yourself from.

Decoration and Aesthetics

If you want something personalized to your nature and lifestyle, a GC might not be the right person to help you with that. You know your style well, and hence, you are the right fit to take care of the decoration and aesthetics.

You can try installing floating shelves, lighting, cabinets, etc. These small things can save you a lot while letting you give a personal touch to your kitchen.

Conclusion

Kitchen remodeling is a big project where people often make the wrong decision between hiring a GC or doing it themselves. If you are remodeling the entire kitchen, the best answer is to use both. Do the basic things yourself and take expert help when required. It will allow you to save costs while not compromising on quality.