The do it yourself attitude is a hallmark of American life and our cultural history. From the earliest pioneers, to the great builders of this nation, they were marked by an ethic of responsibility and self-reliance. This attitude, in all it's admiration, has remained to this day and is extremely popular among home-do-it-yourself who love to fix, repair, or even remodel their homes on their own.
We do not challenge their abilities or skills, because everyone's level of expertise is always different and there are truly remarkable and skilled do-it-yourselfers. However, there has been a rising trend of accidents that have resulted from people attempting at a home remodeling project that they cannot handle.
Home Safety Council, reported that as many as one in five of the 43 million homeowners tackling 57 million home improvement projects. That is nearly 8.6 million injuries!
In 2009, for example, 246,733 Americans had to be hospitalized for falling off ladders or stools. In the same year, 83,204 hospitalized for injuries resulting from power tools, and accidents involving solvents, paints, and cleaning agents, resulted in 53,907 Americans to the emergency room.
Besides basic safety, there are just some DIY projects that are too risky for a non-professional to handle. These consist of major roof repairs, gas line repair, or electrical and plumbing work. The fact of the matter is, living in California and especially Los Angeles, there are so many rules and regulations regarding the correct way of conducting a repair, or a remodel, that it is far easier to hire a professional than it is to do it yourself and make sure you are following all the specifications correctly.
Several weeks ago we were hired on to remodel the upstairs bedroom and roof of a homeowner who, several years ago, had to repair the bedroom and roof himself with his 2 sons. They initially did a good job, but used poor materials, and made some major structural mistakes which caused part of the roof to collapse. It ended up costing him a lot more to hire a professional to fix this incident than it would have been if he would have hired one several years ago to fix his bedroom.
The golden rule is to allow yourself to become objective when evaluating home improvement projects. Ask yourself, realistically, is this a project you can do yourself? Do you know all the rules and regulations that are involved? Did you make sure that the materials and the equipment is correct? If at any point you feel hesitant about those things, it's probably best to hire a professional contractor. It can save you money in the long run!