When I am asked what I "do" I usually reply with some combination of attorney, consultant and mom depending on the person I am talking to. But if I am really trying to get to know someone, I need to fit in DIY. It is really part of who I am. When I describe to people that we have bought a house just outside of town that I am remodeling, the brave (or uninterested) often respond, "Why?" with a truly astonished look on their face. That's not easy to answer.
I spend a lot of my time and energy on this project and sometimes it seems to take over my life. Sometimes it even takes on a "crisis" mode which causes a good deal of stress. But I think, generally, this is a rewarding way to spend my time. About 7 years ago I left a full time office job wondering what it was like to make your own schedule. Consulting has allowed me to do that, but I needed to find something to fill all the extra time (time I used to spend chatting with friends at work, sitting in unnecessary meetings and planning for the hours I had away from the office). In the last seven years my kids have moved from elementary to high school/middle school so they now take much less of my attention. Now I am basically a chauffeur/counselor. When we bought this house it was so exciting to have a new project! Every room needed attention - my dream house (crazy!)
So, as you can see in the last 60 posts, we have been knocking out rooms one by one. My husband is a willing participant but I don't think it is quite as rewarding to him. I am driven to get the house to a certain point, which is almost here. After finishing the current bathroom projects, we will really only have the kitchen to do. I am ready for a break, so we will likely wait a while for that. Given that the end of my project it coming I decided to try to really address the question, "Why DIY?"
It is a complex question so let me break it into pieces. The first, most obvious reason: moolah, greenbacks, dough, coin, scratch. I am cheap by nature. Even when I have money to spend I need to feel that it was spent for something of equal or greater value. If you have ever gotten a quote from a remodeling contractor and been shocked, you might have tried a DIY. This financial necessity was certainly a big driver early in our marriage. If you DIY, you can spend more on the materials and get more done. That appeals to my frugality.
But then there is quality of work. A poor quality DIY can be a waste of good materials and actually bring down the value. On the other hand, I would rather have a poor quality DIY that I know how to repair than paying a contractor more to do an equally poor job. I have not been impressed with many of the tradesmen I have hired in the past. It is hard to find good help. My cheapness works against me here because I probably don't consider the contractors who will provide the best quality work. I have become more skilled at certain jobs as I have completed projects so my quality of work has improved over the years. Also, the advent of Youtube has greatly increased my ability to research a project first. I now feel that the quality of our DIY surpasses some of the tradesmen out there. In the end, I would rather look at a mistake that I made than a mistake that I paid someone to make.
Control. This has probably become my number one reason for DIY. If you are present and participating in every phase of a project, you get to make the decisions about unexpected issues. I can't tell you how many times we have changed plans in the middle of a project, which contractors HATE by the way. Plus, with a contractor, things move so quickly you really don't have time to change plans. It sounds funny, but at our slower DIY pace, I think we end up with a better layout/design because of changes along the way to make it better. Even when I hire out a small part of a project, like plumbing recently, I am always disappointed by some unexpected decision that the workers make. You guessed it, I am a control freak.
And then there is pride. I like to be able to say that I built this, or created that. I love the feeling when I talk to men (mostly) who assume I don't know squat about construction, when start to recognize that I actually understand what we are talking about. This is really just a fleeting feeling though, and not worth the work and headache of DIY.
Recycling also plays a role here. I do not like to throw things away, as my husband will attest. I get such a good feeling when something I have saved becomes a useful and unique design element in a new project. If I ever decided to go into another career, this would probably be one of my passions I would look to. It makes me happy that recycling is good for the environment but I would be fooling myself if I thought that was the main driver. It is a combination of problem solving and eliminating waste, and it feels like putting in that last piece of a puzzle to my crazy brain.
However, I do not want to be a contractor. So many of my friends tell me that I should remodel other people's houses for a living. The closest I could come to this would be to flip houses. I have zero interest in working with a client to bring their vision to life. This is all about ME! Despite the fact that I do electrical, install tile, do construction, etc, those are NOT my desired professions. Doing the actual work is hard on your body and I don't think you could pay me enough to go into any of those fields. No, I only work for myself. If I was doing it for money, I think all the joy would disappear.
Finally, I think DIY is in my genes. My dad did everything himself as long as I can remember. As a child, we had a garage full of lawn mowers being used for parts for our working mower. We had an old 50's truck that was taken apart, waiting to be rejuvenated. Growing up, we never hired out work. When something needed to be done you figured out how to do it. So that is just my natural first thought when a project presents itself. When my dad remarried, my stepmother loved to redecorate so his skills became focused on house projects. As I grew older and married, this became a bonding topic that we discussed often. My dad passed away too young seven years ago and I still miss him. But I like to imagine him checking out my projects and my blog.
So that is why I DIY. Why do you?
No comments:
Post a Comment