Expertise vs DIY
What's the real difference? And can you really do it all yourself?
If you’re considering building your house with your own hands, put up one of those hands, and now put a finger down for each of the following:
You’re a Millennial
You pick up new skills quickly
You’ve always been good with your hands
You’re proud of what you’ve made
You’ve seen something in a shop/store and thought: Well, I could just make it myself
If you’ve got a fist now, well, you’re in good company.
For those of us who Do Things Ourselves, it’s a bit of a religion, or perhaps a compulsion. You can’t really help but believe that you can do just about anything manual, because, let’s be honest, you’ve had a lot of success in the past.
I’ve discovered through this process, that there is a difference between DIY and an Expert doing something for you, however, and it’s not per se the end result!
After the excavation guys dug the hole, we built the boxes for the footing, we poured the concrete (the guy with the truck had us direct the pipe while he controlled the flow), we assembled the ICFs, we tied together all the rebar, we poured more concrete, we did the timber framing (Jay did the shaping, and we assembled it together with our friends)…
We taped around every window box and door frame, we installed the windows, we installed all our plugs and lights after the electric guys laid the wiring, we did our plumbing, we installed our roof, we insulated our roof, we installed our floors and siding… the list goes on and on. Every single, tiny detail, we did ourselves (mostly Jay). So far the only thing we brought in professionals for was the electrical wiring (for safety reasons), and the HVAC guys.
So we’re proof that it can be done!
And now here comes the BUT: there is a big pitfall of being a DIYer, that I think is much more keenly felt when the stakes are this high; not only do you have to teach yourself how to do the thing in the first place, but you also have no idea how to troubleshoot.
When you’re watching a YouTube video on how to install a sink, there’s not a section saying “Put twice as much Loctite as you think you’ll need if your sink is pure brass.” or “When applying mortar, make sure it isn’t raining or it’ll be a different color.” This information may be out there, but the more specific you have to get about troubleshooting situations, the less likely you are to find that information until it’s sort of too late, and you’re in a pickle.
Most construction is relatively straightforward, and if you’re used to working with your hands, and you’re willing to read a couple books or watch some videos, you can definitely Do It Yourself. The thing that really comes with expertise is knowing how to adjust for specific situations, how to fix things when the plan inevitably gangs agley.
Now maybe this is old news to you, but I think it’s a healthy reminder to those of us who are pretty proud of our abilities and are pretty confident; you can (and should!) still do it yourself, but either be prepared for some frustration, or try to get an expert to advise (or better yet, find a way to practice it with an expert first). Even just seeing an expert at work a few times can give you some tips and tricks, and pitfalls to watch out for.
And when things do go wrong, don’t panic: oftentimes there’s a fix (vinegar is great for washing off drippy mortar stains); or you can just redo it, and the second time it’ll be faster and you’ll do it better, because you’ve started to become a little bit of an expert yourself.