New House
I had an idea. Actually I have them all the time, almost intrusively. Some are good, others are not but I struggle to find the time or, if I’m being totally honest, the focus to wrench many of them from my mind and bring them into reality.
Anyway, here’s this one: how much does DIY really save us financially?
As a new home owner, I’m presented with the opportunity to track spending on all our projects and compare them with the cost of a professional job, or the cost of a buying a comparable piece of furniture. The truth is, we simply couldn’t afford our house if we weren’t planning to DIY the heck out of it, so let the 10 years+ experiment commence!
Notes:
- This won’t include typically DIY-ed things like gardening or small jobs with simple tools that most people will do themselves.
- We live in the south-east so material costs are a little higher and professional jobs are significantly higher than elsewhere in the UK (cost of living and all that).
- This won’t quantify a cost for time spent on the projects because we enjoy DIY here 🙂
- Costs for projects won’t include tools bought but will include tools hired.
- Costs for professionals are estimated. I’m obviously not going to waste contractors’ time getting quotes so there’s a degree of guesswork.
- There won’t be a video for everything. Small, simple or repeat jobs for example.
- We will hire professionals for things like electrics, recording the cost in both the second and third columns and £ saved will be zero for those
Project
Floor Plans
Potting Table
Side gate
Back Fence
Insulated Plasterboard
Bed 1 – Soundproofing
Our Cost
£0
£180
£229
£1,138
£191
£860
Estimated Professional Cost
£500
£110
£500
£4,000
£1,000?
£2,000?
Notes
Equivalent of paying an architect/floor planner
I broke my windscreen getting the timber in the car. Doh!
We bought the gate for this one
26 metre close-board style fence with 2 gates from scratch
Insulated plasterboard to outer wall of bedroom 1
Sound proofing party wall in bed 1
£ Saved
£500
-£70
£271
£2862
£809
£1,140
Running Totals
£2,591
£8,110
£5,519