Should I Hire a Professional to Remodel My Bathroom?
While getting ready for work, you may have noticed the grout around your shower tile is not so white anymore, and scrubbing has long ago proven useless. Your sink and fixtures look a bit outdated, and you’ve never liked how the toilet abuts the bathtub. You have put it off long enough – it’s time for a bathroom remodel. Question is, can you take on the task yourself, or will the job require a professional contractor?
There are a number of reasons why a homeowner would consider a bathroom makeover as a do-it-yourself project. Money, of course, is typically the top answer. Many feel that by cutting out the cost of labor, it is possible to save since you will only pay out for supplies like paint, new fixtures, and tile. If you know what you are doing, you will find taking charge of fixing up your bathroom can be an energizing process. However, it is also time consuming depending upon the amount of work involved.
Consider these points before you decide to pick up a trowel and get to work:
1) Do you work? If you hold down a full-time job, you may be limited with regards to the hours you can devote to a remodeling project. Let’s face it, the last thing you want to do after an eight-hour day is start a second job, so you wait for the weekend to get moving. In the meantime, you could have a bathroom out of commission and a house full of people. Do you want to take that risk?
2) How much work is involved? If your remodeling job consists mainly of replacing a sink counter or tiles, you may feel confident enough to take on the work yourself if you have some home improvement experience. On the other hand, jobs that require relocating a toilet or sink, installing a shower, or expanding the room require more work that must be done right the first time. Especially where large fixtures are involved, this could mean your plumbing must be rearranged to suit. If you don’t have the experience relaying pipe, you could risk damages to your home that will require a contractor to fix anyway.
3) How much time do you have? If you have a house full of people, a remodel done yourself may interfere with your regular routine. Having a contractor come in during the day while everybody is at work or school, however, is less likely to interrupt the family.
If the job appears to be too large for one person to handle, consider calling a contractor who specializes in bathroom remodeling to visit and offer you an estimate on the work. You may find the money spent for labor is well worth the cost in eliminating stress and headaches.
