When you decide to remodel your kitchen, one big question springs to mind: will you do most of the work yourself, or should you hire a professional? While there are some places where a professional is required, such as for rewiring or installing new or moving old plumbing, many things are left more ambiguous.
In this article, we’ll lay out the benefits and pitfalls of each to help you decide whether to remodel your kitchen with or without professional assistance.
DIY Benefits
There are many benefits to doing a kitchen remodel project on your own, from maintaining control of what you want to do throughout to the price.
Cheaper
Kitchen remodeling projects aren’t cheap, so finding a way to save money becomes attractive. The more of your kitchen remodel you do on your own, the less expensive the project becomes. If you can do most or even all of it on your own, then you’re saving a lot of money. As long as you have all of the tools you need, that is.
Stronger Sense of Pride
While you’ll be proud of your new kitchen no matter who hammers in the final nail, it would be extra satisfying knowing that you did most, if not all, of it on your own.
The smile that would spread across your face as you looked back on how you selected the paint for the walls, the colors of the cabinets, the material of the countertops, etc., and how you then installed everything on your own would be wider than any tape measure could measure.
Staying Close to Your Vision
Hiring a contractor would force you to share your plans with them, and they may disagree with how you want to do something. You’ve probably spent a long time envisioning and planning what your new kitchen would look like, and you want to stay as close to that vision as possible.
Doing your remodel on your own would allow you to do this, and if you do have to make changes along the way, it’s because a material you chose isn’t as feasible as you once thought or because another issue you noticed arose.
DIY Downfalls
Of course, it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows during a DIY kitchen remodel, however. There are a few downsides to be aware of as well.
Inexperience
Even if you have construction experience, you won’t have as much as a contractor would. You may have to spend money to find the right tools and make multiple trips to the hardware store if your vision expands or something goes awry.
Something going wrong is also more likely due to your lack of experience. If a big enough problem emerges, you may have to put the project on hold while a professional performs repairs.
Limited Options
While you can utilize whatever is currently on the market, you won’t have the option to implement new technologies or techniques like a contractor would.
Kitchen designers and contractors spend their time not only on the obvious tasks but also staying in the loop with the construction and design worlds and may be able to utilize emerging trends in a way you’d never consider to achieve your goals.
Time
The biggest downside of doing a kitchen remodel project completely on your own is how long it will take. Experienced professionals already know how to install appliances, cabinets, counters, and more, but your experience is more limited, so it will take some time to figure out how to do so correctly.
On top of that, you’ll be tackling the entire kitchen with maybe a handful of people whose experience levels may vary. What would take a contractor a few weeks or months, depending on the scale, could take you months or even years to complete.
Professional Benefits
While there are many benefits to doing your kitchen remodel without professionals, there are quite a few things they bring to the table that could improve your kitchen immeasurably.
Expert Advice
While this may be your first kitchen remodel, an experienced contractor may have done dozens during their career. They know what works, what doesn’t, what to do, and what to avoid. If a problem arises, they may know how to fix it. They will also be able to provide you with design suggestions that will not only make the project easier but also improve its functionality once completed.
Faster
A contractor’s experience alone will make a project go quicker, but once you also take into account the specialized tools they have access to and their team, it may take them weeks or months to do what might take you years to do. Once you present them with the final plan, they’ll also be able to give you an idea of how long it will take, what issues could arise, and how long it may take to work around or fix them. This gives you a better idea of what to expect from the project and allows you to plan accordingly.
More Options
Part of a contractor’s job is to check in with the broader contracting community once in a while to see what’s going on. By doing this, they can uncover and begin using new techniques, trends, equipment, and materials in their projects that can make everything go faster and look nicer. These professionals also work with various materials every day and may be able to offer a cheaper way to source them or alternatives that achieve everything your chosen ones do at a more affordable price.
Professional Downfalls
Hiring professional contractors for a kitchen remodeling project isn’t a perfect solution, however.
Expensive
If you do hire a professional, you not only need to pay for all of the materials you use but also for the contractor and their team. This can be quite expensive and will require you to save up or get a loan for quite a bit more than you may prefer.
Appointments
Contractors are busy, so they won’t always be able to work on your kitchen. Instead, you’ll have to set up appointments and be aware of their schedule; what time they arrive, when their lunch break is, and when they’ll be done for the day. Due to this, you may have to wait a bit longer than you’d like to get certain parts of the remodel done as you work around their schedule instead of your own.
Debate & Discussion
You’ve been planning your kitchen remodel for a few months, maybe even a year now, so you’re pretty confident about what the layout should be, what materials you’d like to use, etc. However, as you show your plan to the contractor, they may disagree with your decision and offer suggestions.
While some of these will be welcome suggestions that will make the project cheaper or faster or improve the functionality of the finished kitchen, not all will be, and you may end up in a debate with the contractors.
Remodeling Your Kitchen, The Right Way
There are benefits and disadvantages to both doing your kitchen remodel yourself and hiring a contractor. Ultimately, it may turn out that your remodel requires a bit of both, so understanding the potential issues of each will better prepare you for what you should expect.
If you’re looking to begin a kitchen remodel, the experts at Panhandle Cleaning & Restoration would love to help. We have experience in restoration, construction, and cleaning and can help you achieve your dream kitchen.
