When people think of home improvements, they usually think of things like remodeling the kitchen, building up a new garage, or upgrading the flooring in your home. Since home improvements are usually very expensive and time-consuming, it’s only natural to plan ahead to ensure that your improvements are worth the money and can be completed within a decent time frame so that your home can resume its normal functions.
It’s extremely common to start home improvement projects on your own, but you run the risk of taking a long time to complete them. If you try to remodel your kitchen on your own, then you need to make sure you have a way to cook food or stay fed while you replace kitchen appliances and fill the room with construction materials. For many people, it’s just not feasible to attempt home improvements by yourself or even with a team of family members, especially if it’s a large project that needs a lot of work. That’s where contractors come in.
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What Are the Advantages of Hiring a Contractor?
One of the most obvious advantages is that it saves you time and effort. Contractors are experts at what they do and there’s no doubt that they have the skill, expertise and experience to handle any job you throw at them. It’s even better if you can hire a contracting company that’s been around for a long time because they are almost guaranteed to have a long list of happy customers and successful jobs or else they wouldn’t be in the business for such a long time.
Let’s imagine you wanted to replace the siding in your home because the outside of your property looks depressing and worn out. Instead of worrying about dimensions or how much material need to buy, you can simply put your feet up and browse ideas at fergusonroofing.com/siding/lp-smartside-siding/ and show them to your contractor who’ll take care of the rest. It’s convenient, it’s simple and it’s worth the cost.
Health and Safety Reasons
Another major advantage that comes from their experience is health and safety. When taking on a dangerous job like relocating appliances and electrical outlets, you run the risk of electrocuting yourself or bursting a pipe if your home uses gas for central heating and cooking appliances. Water pipes might also be a risk—you don’t want to end up flooding your home with water.
Messing with the inner workings of your home isn’t a laughing matter. Gas leaks could lead to carbon monoxide poisoning, and trying to rewire electrical outlets could turn them into dangerous hazards to your entire family. The last thing you want to do is break or damage an expensive appliance in the kitchen or to put you and your family at risk.
Large Jobs
When you think about replacing the flooring in your entire house or just a single room, think about the amount of work it’s actually going to take. Chances are, it’s a tall order and you won’t be able to handle it on your own or even with a couple of helping hands. Firstly, you’ll need to move all the furniture out and place it into another room or a storage area. This alone could take an entire day depending on how heavy the furniture is or how big the room is.
Next, you’ll have to strip the carpets or existing flooring which could total up to another day. Then comes scrubbing the floors, fixing up any gaps, and then finally placing the new flooring. But of course, that’s not until you’ve calculated how much new carpet or flooring you need before you start laying it down. And don’t forget that if you make a mistake, you’re probably going to have to start all over again.
If this sounds like a fun job then you can attempt to handle it yourself. However, your contractor isn’t going to be happy if you ask them to take over a shoddy half-finished job because they’ll most likely have to start from scratch.
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Outdoor Improvements
It’s not just the inside of your house that needs improvements. The outside of our house is usually neglected when it comes to home improvement (besides the front yard or garden) because it takes so much work. Replacing a roof is tough, getting new siding installed takes forever, and let’s forget ever trying to raise a separate building on our properties by ourselves.
Whether it’s replacing the siding or creating a new attachment to your home, it’s tough work that isn’t suited for a single person. It requires a lot of planning and expertise to do large-scale improvements outdoors, and even something as simple as building a shed in your garden can take days worth of research, sourcing materials and building. Don’t try to do it by yourself because you’ll end up frustrated, tired, or possibly even injuring yourself.
Painting Jobs
Let’s be honest—many of us have thought about tackling paint jobs on our own. Whether it’s a small spot of chipped paint behind a door or an entire room that needs a colour facelift, we think to ourselves “it’s just paint, what could go wrong?”.
But then you head to the local DIY store and you forget what colour your wall is. You run back home and take photos and videos, but as soon as you get home with a fresh tin of paint you realise the colour is completely different. Then you start painting on regardless, but you realise you forgot to prepare the walls with primer and you neglected to cover your furniture, and now the paint is all over your favourite shirt and your carpets have paint splatters all over them. You keep painting anyway because there’s no going back, and the next thing you know your walls look like an art canvas from a preschooler’s art class.
The morale of the story is: don’t attempt a paint job in your home if you don’t know what you’re doing. Leave it to the professionals.
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Contractors are Efficient
No one wants to start improving their garden, only to leave it half-done. You’ll have plants all over the place, storage bins full of soil and gardening tools, and of course, an incomplete garden that looks like a dumping ground. Similarly, no one wants to start a bedroom improvement and be forced to sleep on a sofa while they slowly finish the room.
When you request a job from a contractor they’ll be able to carry out the job while you’re at work or relaxing in another part of your home. They’ll give you an estimated time for how long it’ll take, and you don’t have to stress about making time in your schedule to work on a home improvement.
Do You Have a Building Permit?
You don’t want to start a DIY job and then suddenly have police knocking at your door. People don’t realise it, but there are laws that protect you from building certain extensions and home improvements to your property. Whenever you plan an external or structural modification to your existing home you’ll need to seek permission from the relevant authorities before you are legally allowed to start building. You’ll also need a permit for things like electrical changes, plumbing work, window modifications and even a fireplace.
A licensed contractor will already have the necessary permits and qualifications to legally carry out the work. Although there might be some papers to sign and conditions to accept, most of the work will be done for you and you won’t need to worry about all the complications that could arise. An unlicensed contractor could cost you a lot of money in fees and there’s no guarantee that they understand the safety precautions that experienced contractors have to consider, which leads to the next point.
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Don’t Skimp on Fees—Pay Full Price for the Service You Need
You pay contractors to cover their labour costs, material costs, legal fees (if there are any) and most importantly, you pay for their expertise. A lot of people scoff at the high costs that a contractor demands for their work, but not everyone appreciates the experience and skill that a veteran contractor has.
It’s a tough job that demands a lot of patience and effort. A contractor that’s been around for several years will have thousands of completed jobs under their belt. They understand the risks and potential pitfalls of each job and they know how to avoid or fix those issues. Chances are, your home improvement project is nothing new to an experienced contractor and they can offer you advice on whatever you are planning.
If you hire an inexperienced or unlicensed contractor because they cost a bit less, then you’re forfeiting the expertise and experience of a skilled contractor and you’re risking the health and safety of your family members just to save some money. There are horror stories of electricians suffering from electrical shocks and being hospitalised because they’re called to fix electrical issues that were mishandled by inexperienced workers.