What to do yourself (and what to pay someone for)

I did a ton of remodeling on my house, and along the way I learned that there’s certain stuff that carpenters do themselves, and certain things that they just farm out.

Here’s a list of most of the things you can do yourself, and here’s when it’s best to bring in someone else.

We’ll break it down into 3 progressive categories -

1. What any idiot can do. If you actually try, you can do it.
2. What requires a small bit of research. Definitely do-able, but you need to prepare a bit.
3. Don’t even bother. This is stuff that’s either too specialized to do or not worth the risk of fucking it up.

What any Idiot can Do

These are things that don’t involve a ton of skill (not knocking people who do this well by the way) but you can generally get right with about 20–30 minutes of YouTube videos.

Demolition. Demolition is actually a ton of fun. So long as you take your time and chip away at the project versus trying to go all Kool-Aid man through the wall, you’ll be just fine. By the way, there are live wires in that wall.

I hired this contractor on Craigslist, so I knew he was qualified.

Drywall. Cutting and screwing drywall to studs is pretty easy. Spackling and sanding drywall to make it smooth is a beyotch, but if you’re patient, you can do it. I hate doing drywall, but I will admit it’s very achievable.

Painting. The good news is you learned this when you were like 7, so you’ve had a head start. I also hate painting, but again, if you do your masking right, it’s really hard to do that poorly.

Framing. If you can’t figure out how to construct 2x4’s into rectangles, you’ve got bigger problems. The trick to framing is being extra careful in measuring your cuts. Most people do really sloppy cuts and builds and wind up with janky frames. Just take your time and over-measure the hell out of every cut and join.

Hardwood Floors, Walls. Surprisingly easy if you take a second to understand how to do it. If you’re putting hardwood floors in a square room, it’s basically like putting together Legos. You have to have a flooring nailer to do it right, though.

Decking. Building a wood deck is practically rite of passage for any carpenter, and so long as you do your homework on the basics, there’s a ton of wiggle room on the finish. It’s a fantastic project for an amateur.

What Requires a Bit of Research

Just because I’m saying it “requires a bit of research” don’t let that intimidate you. I’m just saying I’ve done enough of it to know that doing some homework before the project is super helpful, but I’ve done all of these myself and I possess zero special skills.

Electrical. There are only 3 wires. One has the current (it will shock you), the other two don’t. Of the other two, one is a bare copper wire. You’re down to just one wire. Just remember to find out which circuit you’re working with in your breaker panel (Google it) and you’ll be safe. I do 100% of my own electrical and it’s cake.

I mean, c’mon — Murray in his prime.

Staining & Polyurethane. Not the same as painting. Staining and Poly require a bit more technique in how you approach it. Staining is all about testing with scrap wood before you mangle your project, and poly is about applying it 3x which is a pain, but looks SO good when it’s done. A great skill worth learning.

Cabinetry (the open parts). There are basically two parts to building cabinets — open cabinets like a cubby and door/drawer cabinets like your kitchen. Anyone can build open cabinets (I’ve done a bunch) but don’t even mess with anything that gets into doors and drawers. (See below)

Trim Work. All the trim wood in your house, from your baseboards to the casing around your doors and windows is very do-able. Now, once you get into complex stuff like crown molding you may want to bring in someone else. But if you are willing to make a LOT of cuts to get the final piece right, trim work is for you. Also, if your first project is trim work, you picked the hardest possible first project.

Carpet/Flooring. Personally I put this in the “don’t even bother” category because I just don’t enjoy it, but I would have to say that carpeting definitely falls in the “DIY with research” category. Although I have to say, a good carpet installer is a magician in my mind.

Tile Work. If it’s a really small job, you could likely do your own tile, but the reason I always farm this out is that I don’t want to be messing with a wet saw and be piecing little items together. I just don’t have the patience, though I could definitely understand how someone with enough motivation could make it work, especially for a less complicated, big tile floor.

Don’t Even Bother

This category I reserve not to say you can’t do it as much as really — don’t bother. The people who do this well earn every penny of it because it’s often complicated, highly specific work that you need more reps than you’ll get doing it one time on a weekend to get it right. Also, some of this stuff uses really expensive materials you don’t want to trash.

Cabinetry (Doors and Drawers). Your kitchen cabinets are usually sent off to a shop where they are custom milled with a CNC machine using a computer. Some folks build them by hand, but suffice to say, this is not for the novice carpenter. I know how to do it and I’ll never touch it.

Plumbing. Plumbing isn’t necessarily complicated, it’s just risky. I understand how pipes work, but I don’t mess with water. The upside is a few hundred dollars saved and the downside is me swimming in shit.

This is all that I know about plumbing.

Concrete/Masonry. I’ve always wanted to do concrete work, and I get it in concept, but having watched guys do it on my property at home, unless it was a super simple job (like filling a post or maybe creating a small concrete pad) I am definitely deferring to the pros.

Counter Tops. If you’re just looking to install a single slab — by all means do it. If you are doing anything even remotely complex, leave it to the counter top company. This isn’t really a DIY project once you get into complex cuts, miters, and cutouts.