Knowing When to Do It Yourself To save money or precious leisure? That is the dilemma for home remodelers who are handy with tools.
By William C. Banks

(MONEY Magazine) – Ann and Charles Snodgrass are such inveterate do-it-yourselfers that they hardly thought twice about taking on the job of finishing the inside walls of their new 1,100-square-foot house in Reidsville, N.C. Having built much of the dwelling themselves, Ann, who works for the local newspaper, and Charles, a salesman for a cabinetry firm, then went on to do the painting. ''By the end, I felt like I'd spent years with my neck bent backward,'' Ann says. But the pain was worth it. By investing only two weekends and $100 for supplies, they avoided a $1,500 painters' fee. For Gene and Barbara Grant, however, the equation was different. The Grants' Costa Mesa, Calif. home also needed repainting. But with Gene on the road as marketing vice president for a fitness-equipment manufacturer and Barbara teaching daily aerobics classes, the Grants were only too happy to pay someone else $3,500 to wield the brush. Says Gene: ''I used to do that kind of work around the house, but now we're just too busy. What leisure time we get we spend with the kids. And that's worth every dime.'' To do or not to do? Deciding when to hire workers for a job and when to try it yourself is one of the trickiest -- but potentially most rewarding -- aspects of home remodeling. The rub: whether or not you can find jobs you can handle competently in a reasonable time. The reward: a greatly reduced cost. ''About 40% of professional remodeling cost is labor, and 23% is overhead and profit,'' says Bryan Patchan, executive director of the National Association of Home Builders' Remodelors Council, ''so the savings are definitely there if you pick jobs that are right for you.'' Indeed, a survey by the Washington, D.C. trade group shows that three out of four home remodelers do at least some of the work themselves. And the volume of their work is booming: Americans spent more than $95 billion on home improvements last year, up 5% from 1986. The NAHB predicts that such spending will surpass that spent on new home construction within the next decade. The main advantage of hiring a professional, of course, is that your workload can be lightened to a single chore: writing the check. Says David L. Eggers, president of his own remodeling firm in Mamaroneck, N.Y.: ''The rule that holds up is that a professional will do the job better and three times faster than you can. For starters, he has all the tools and supplies in his truck; you have to drive to the store to get them.'' Still, professionals may not devote the same loving care to your property that you would. And many of them overbook: workers show up one day to start your job and then disappear for a week to meet obligations elsewhere. (For suggestions on how to deal with contractors, see the box on page 154.) Doing it yourself, on the other hand, has its own headaches. Most projects take longer than you expect. The quality of workmanship depends on your own patience and skill. And then there's that great imponderable: the value of your leisure time. ''If you're a professional who can earn more per hour than you'd pay the contractor, you're probably better off sticking to what you're trained to do,'' says Walter Stoeppelwerth, publisher of Home-Tech Publications in Bethesda, Md. And even if your off hours aren't worth dollars, the cost to home, family and health can be high. ''I'm sure we've saved thousands of dollars,'' says Paul White, a 37-year-old personnel manager for a Houston oil company, of the painting, retiling and interior woodwork that he and his family have accomplished in the past few years. ''But lately I've cut back. Somehow, the older I get, the more valuable my free time becomes.'' For detailed instructions on the mechanics, we recommend any of the following excellent guides: Reader's Digest Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual ($22), the Simon & Schuster Complete Guide to Home Repair and Maintenance by Bernard Gladstone ($13) and the Home Repair and Improvement series from Time-Life Books ($11 per volume).

But when it comes to deciding which projects make the most sense for you, the literature is less helpful. We suggest that you first pick a job that you enjoy doing, because if you don't like the work, odds are you will do it poorly. Then get some bids from professionals. Calculate how much you would spend on materials if you did the work yourself and how long it would take you. Finally, use these estimates to figure your savings per hour of effort -- a good measure of your immediate payback -- and also how much value it will add to your home. (Be realistic about your own skills, though; don't ''save'' $1,000, by doing it yourself, only to have a prospective home buyer knock $2,000 off your asking price to cover the cost of tearing out your sloppy workmanship.) For examples of projects that typically have a good return, see the table on page 152. Beginner's projects -- those that require more patience than skill -- can have a remarkably high return if they save a tradesman's house call. Fixing a leaky faucet, for example, is small change in every respect except the cost of a licensed plumber -- typically $50 to $100 an hour. Most of the time, the faucet needs only a new rubber washer anyway, and replacing it requires only a $5 kit from the hardware store, an adjustable wrench, a screwdriver -- and about an hour of labor. Minor electrical jobs are also within reach of most amateurs. Replacing a doorbell chime or a dimmer switch, for instance, takes an hour or so, costs less than $15 in gear and saves the cost of an electrician's visit -- about $100. More ambitious projects, such as painting or retiling, can also pay off if you are willing to spend more than one full weekend working at home. Counsels Ken Austin, chairman of Housemasters of America, a home inspection firm in Bound Brook, N.J.: ''Learn to pace yourself, doing only so much at a time. The most common error for do-it-yourselfers is that they get 95% of the job done and then they're too tired for the last 5% that makes it look great.'' Professional painters would charge between $200 and $400 to put two coats of paint on the walls and ceiling of a 15-by-20-foot dining or living room, for example, but they would finish the job in a day. A rank amateur would probably require two days -- one to prepare the walls and one to paint them -- but would spend only about $75 for paint and supplies. Laying new ceramic tile (cost: $3 to $6 a square foot) is a little more complicated, but at least, unlike when you paint a ceiling, gravity is on your side. Sometimes you can put down a layer of adhesive and place the tiles directly over an existing vinyl or linoleum floor. Other times the floor is too uneven, and you must chisel up the old covering to expose the concrete underneath or lay down a thin layer of concrete for a foundation (probably not & a job for beginners). You will need to rent a tile-cutting tool for about $5 a day and practice with it to get clean, straight cuts. But with all the labor that is involved, your savings can be substantial: $6 or so per square foot. Big jobs entail the most effort -- they take months, sometimes years -- but yield equivalent savings. One popular project is to add an outdoor deck to your home. A builder would charge $3,000 to $5,000 for a 200-square-foot platform suitable for long summer evenings of mint juleps and insect repellent. But you can buy the materials and build a custom model for about $1,000, or pay $400 to $700 for a prefabricated kit. In most communities, you will need to submit your plan in advance to the local building authority and pay about $50 to $150 for a permit. Later, the deck must pass an official inspection.

Taking a sledgehammer to your house -- that is, gutting a room or ripping out a back porch before a major renovation -- can also be profitable, not to mention cathartic, and can shave $1,000 off the project cost. The tools are simple: a crowbar ($4) and sledgehammer ($10) usually suffice. The only caution, of course, is to check your building plans to make sure you aren't removing something critical to the rest of the house, like a load-bearing joist. Knocking down and clearing away an eight-foot-by-14-foot wall would probably take two desk jockeys about a day, including hauling off the debris (or, you can pay someone $50 to haul it). Cost if you leave the job to your contractor: about $130. Of course, there are some jobs that are usually best left in the hands of experts: anything complicated involving electricity or plumbing, for example. Don't even think about running natural gas lines or connecting to city sewage. Also better for professionals are jobs that require skilled craftsmanship: detailed interior woodwork, complicated cabinetry, fancy tiling, carpeting and wood flooring, to name a handful. Stoeppelwerth, of Home-Tech Publications, adds that if you do divide the project with a contractor, let him finish his work first and then start yours, or vice versa. ''That way, you don't get into each other's way and there are no misunderstandings about who did -- or didn't -- do what,'' he says. For example, you would pay about $6,000 for foundation, framing and interior walls on a 224-square-foot addition. To finish it from there, painting and adding plumbing and electrical fixtures, the contractor would charge another $4,000 ^ or so. Your cost for materials: $2,000. Finally, in your calculations on the merits of doing it yourself, expect intangible benefits along with the tangible ones. Chicago bond trader Michael Myers and his wife Debbie, an accountant, reckon they saved nearly $2,000 by installing a 1,000-square-foot deck in their Lake Bluff, Ill., home last year. But the payoff wasn't only in their bank balance. Says Michael: ''For us, working with our hands, and actually seeing a pleasing, tangible result, was a big bonus.''

BOX: What to Do Tips for dealing with contractors

Get bids from at least two or three and pick one you like who has been in business locally for several years. Check with past customers and the Better Business Bureau. Then insist on a written, signed contract including:

-- A fixed price not based on hours. -- Detailed plans with specifics about materials, appliances, etc. -- A reasonable payment schedule (30% each at start, middle and end is common, with 10% upon final okay). -- Start-up and completion dates and, if possible, a fee for lateness. -- A guarantee that the contractor carries workers' compensation insurance and liability insurance. -- A promise that you will get a release of liens before final payment so that subcontractors can't sue you if the contractor fails to pay them.

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE CREDIT: NO CREDIT CAPTION: Some do-it-yourself projects that are worth your time Big projects -- like adding a backyard deck -- enhance your property value the most, as this list of fairly typical home renovations and repairs illustrates. But don't overlook the small jobs: the largest per-hour savings come from simply changing a light switch. DESCRIPTION: Cost of several types of home repair work, done by professionals compared to do-it-yourself.