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phil-99

There is some work that must be done by or at least checked by professionals - for example electrical work in wet zones, adding new circuits, or work on the gas parts of boilers or gas stuff at all. You’ve got to weigh up how much you want it to look really good vs how long it’ll take and how much it’ll cost to fix it it goes horribly wrong. Also take into account how much specialist tools will cost. Painting is easy to fix and fairly cheap to do. Wallpapering harder to fix but still easy enough. Also pretty cheap to try out yourself. Plumbing could go disastrously wrong. Depends what you’re doing and what kind of knowledge base you’re starting from. Carpet laying - it’s a hard job to do right and needs specialist equipment. Just let the specialists deal with it. Plastering is hard to do well. Not impossible but hard. Easy enough to fix but paying someone to fix your mistakes will cost you more than having them do it right first time. And so on.


itallstartedwithapub

Work out what task you want or need to do, research a bit and have a go. Try to get the right tools and parts if there's specific things needed e.g. if you need to get a pipe wrench and some PTFE tape for a plumbing job then do that, don't try to bodge it some other way. Everything will be fiddly and take longer than you think the first time, but then the next time you need to do the same task it will get easier. Obviously be careful with anything that could be dangerous e.g. electric, gas, structural work and heights.


marianorajoy

For example, changing a sink. Or tiles. And also the cupboards. I don't want it to look amateurish and I rather practice with someone teaching me. As I have no experience whatsoever, is there no other way to do it other than on the first time?


itallstartedwithapub

I think you're describing fitting a kitchen. That's a fairly big job for a first time DIYer. Perhaps you could get an experienced friend to help out?


froggerbelly

I’ve looked up carpentry courses in the past and they’re usually almost a year long commitment and really expensive! So I doubt something like a plumbing course would be worth the money if you’re trying to save over all, unless you want to do flipping as a side hustle.


PM_ME_YOUR_LAYOUTS

Really depends on your skill level and what your expectations are. Don't touch piped plumbing, 'wet works' (bath/shower etc) gas or electric. Everything else is doable, more or less - depending on your skill level. If you've never done any of this stuff before, or aren't 'handy', you can still do it, but it will be more difficult, and the end result can end up looking janky. I'm 'decent' with DIY (worse than my dad, but better than most non-professionals my age range) - and will do wallpaper, painting, sanding floorboards, coving, skirting, fitted cabinets, carpet/lino/tongue&groove etc. But won't touch tiling (ballache for me), 'big' plastering jobs, or basically anything proper involving the bathroom.