As I write today’s post, a drywall contractor is working on our Jack and Jill bathroom upstairs.
We hired him to texture the walls after I removed all the wallpaper myself. (I blogged about the plans for this bathroom here.)
Although texturing seems like a simple enough task (I seriously considered DIYing it), it was a job I had never done before and I was afraid of messing it up. Yes, it’s costing us more to hire someone but, in my view, it’s money well spent.
I’m not afraid of tackling a lot of DIY projects but if there’s one thing I have learned over the years it’s that sometimes you need to call in the professionals.
Here’s what I consider before spending money on a contractor:
My budget. To me, this is the absolute first question to answer before you embark on any project. What can you afford? Sometimes you can afford to hire something out and other times it’s simply out of the question. Budget absolutely dictates.
The type of space I have. Is this a high-traffic, everyone-sees-it kind of space or is it out of the way? Would you be disappointed or upset if it didn’t look perfect and professional?
The cost to fix it if I mess it up. In the case of my bathroom, I decided that damaging dry wall could be costly to repair if I did a bad job. Same with our kitchen. We hired professional contractors — in particular, a professional cabinet maker, to re-configure our cabinets. We didn’t want to take the chance of doing a poor job that would cost us way more in the long run if we had to fix it.
My strengths and weaknesses. My husband can fix almost anything but when it comes to fine details like caulking a clean, perfect line it is definitely not his area. I find caulking to be like working with frosting so I do those jobs. I’m terrified of heights and my husband can’t cut-in when painting so we hired out the painting of our 20-foot ceiling living room. We know our skills and we take on what we feel confident we can handle.
The value of my time. If a project promises to take a lot of time I don’t really have, then I have to consider the value of my time versus the cost of hiring it out. It’s hard when you are a DIYer to think about how much more you will be paying for a project when you hire a professional, but sometimes the time savings is worth every penny.
The cost of Supplies and/or Tool Rental. If you don’t already own the right tools or supplies for the project, that’s an extra cost to factor in to your DIY project. Be sure to factor that in to your decision making.
I am so glad we hired out the drywall project to a contractor. I know the new texture will look just like the adjacent walls and that is worth every single penny.
I often share at: Metamorphosis Monday, Your Designs This Time, The Scoop, Wow Us Wednesdays, Inspire Me Tuesday, Furniture Feature Friday, Something to Talk About
I agree sometimes it’s easier hiring out…can’t wait for the reveal!
After all these years, my hubby and I have come to know just when to hire a professional through all of our past mistakes!…and there were many!…
I so love this and is so true ! And honest xoxo
Can you send him my way when you finish? I am in the same situation right now. I keep putting it off. I know I have to take it down eventually. My sister-in law & niece told me to paint over it. Not sure about that idea. Don’t know in the long run if I like that. My sister-in-law has done that & she has also replaced wallpaper so she has tried several things.
Hi Susan!
I really recommend that you take down the wallpaper. Yes, many people paint and/or plaster over their wallpaper but it is best if you take it down. A kitchen and bathroom designer told me to just to plaster over the existing wallpaper because they do it all the time but I was leery because places were peeling off on their own. I did some research (saw a lot of comments posted on Gardenweb and other places) and found that most people recommended against it. So, I did the dreaded task on two of the three areas of the Jack and Jill bath. Some places came off as though it was hardly attached and other areas were stubborn. I discovered that the builder had the wallpaper put directly on top of the drywall with no prior prep so it was tough getting it off the walls without damaging the drywall a little bit. That’s when I asked the texture guy how much he would charge to remove the rest in my daughter’s sink area because we wanted to keep it smooth there so we can do a stencil treatment. Anyway…when he came over he said that it’s always best to remove the wallpaper even though it’s a pain. He knows that a lot of drywall contractors will texture over the paper but he said it’s risky because you don’t always know what’s underneath the paper. If you texture or paint over the paper there’s a risk it could bubble and peel and then you increase your chance of having to completely replace the drywall! Yikes! That isn’t a risk I was willing to take so I let him remove the paper in my daughter’s small sink area. He did a beautiful job of prepping it so I can paint and stencil. If you live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area I’ll be happy to give you his information. Good luck on your project!
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Great points! Recently, I tried to get my husband to install a heavy shelf/table. He was nervous about messing up the wall (which has a faux brick finish). I found a great handyman through Angie’s List. He actually used better bolts than the ones that came with the shelf. My husband and I would not have known to do that. I was extra glad we called him.
Eilis@MyHeartLivesHere
Julie, I agree too, sometimes if the job is too big it’s easier to hire, those are great tips and can’t wait to see it when it’s done. thanks again for linking up xo Lisa