Is It A Good Idea To Remodel Your Kitchen Yourself?

Are you one of those who would like or needs to remodel your kitchen? Are you doing it because your kitchen is old and tired-looking or because you are bored with it? How are you thinking of going about it? There are after all two means of going about remodeling your kitchen. Namely, you can either remodel your kitchen yourself or you can hire someone else, hopefully a professional, to remodel your kitchen for you.

If you are a keen hobbyist or do-it-yourselfer then there is no reason why you cannot remodel your kitchen yourself. If you decide that you would like to remodel your kitchen yourself, you ought to first work out what you would like your new kitchen to be like, then determine which skills will be required to conclude the jobs and then decide whether you possess the requisite skills to complete the remodelling work.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both routes. The main disadvantage of having a professional contractor remodel your kitchen is the cost, which varies, but can be rather high. The advantages are that the job will be carried out quickly and well and if it is not done well, than you deny payment. You will also get a warranty.

The disadvantages of remodelling your kitchen yourself include possibly not getting as good a finish as with a contractor and the burden on your free time, if you have a full-time job. There can also be a lot of nuisance because it will take you longer. This frequently leads to arguments with your partner.

The advantages when you remodel your kitchen yourself are a saving on costs and more flexibility. When you hire a professional builder, you will explain what you want either verbally or via a drawing. The contractor will give you a quote based on those specifications, but jobs like this rarely finish as the specifications forecast.

There are always variations and this is where some contractors bang the costs up, knowing that you are half-way through the job and cannot change contractor easily. If you are remodelling your kitchen yourself you can change your plans whenever you like.

A high percentage of do-it-yourself remodelling jobs either go wrong or just never get finished because the DIYer realizes all to late that he either does not have the necessary skills or just does not have the time. Every contractor has stories of wives phoning in tears saying that she and the family have been living in a tip for six months and that she just must have the job done. Invariably the husband DIYer will only get home every night after the builders have left. In the UK, they are called botch jobs.

Botch jobs are more costly to put right than it would have cost to do the job professionally in the first place. This is often because the remodelling was started because the kitchen was in a bad state - the tiles and the plaster was literally falling off the walls, but after someone has put new plaster or tiling on badly, it is nevertheless new and very hard and more difficult to remove.

The lesson of this is to be very aware of your personal building skills before you start to remodel your kitchen yourself.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on quite a few subjects, but is at present involved with thinking about thedual fuel range cookers. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Electric Freestanding Cooker.

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January 22 2012 | Home Improvement | No Comments »

Beware of Employing Handymen

If you look around local promoting, you'll find lots of 'handymen' offering services to do work on your home covering painting, decorating, bricklaying, carpentry and other building trades. They can regularly be less expensive than a skilled tradesman and claim to be in a position to do a multitude of tasks so that you do not need to employ several different tradesmen. Nevertheless be a bit careful before you employ such a 'handyman ' to do work on your home.

It's very unusual for a tradesperson to be good at all trades, and the expression "Jack of all trades - master of none" springs to mind. Our company, SIS Construction, spends a good deal of time correcting the mistakes of individuals who are moderately good at DIY, purchase a van and sell themselves as handymen.

As an example, I've been told handymen saying their favourite tool is Gripfill to make repairs. Though trades will use Gripfill it should really only be used as a last resort and not as a tool "it is much better to make correct repairs to wood, brickwork or plaster and this may normally need a skilled tradesman. Such proper reapairs not only look better but also last for longer and are less likely to give Problems.

Don't get me wrong, there'll always be a small percentage of handymen who will be good and they are normally carpenters by trade who've worked for a small builder and have therefore picked up other trades over the years.

A skilled carpenter would have spent years at college and years on site learning the trade as would a bricklayer, a plasterer, a painter or a decorator. Always check and ask "are you qualified?" before employing someone to do work on your house.

An inexpensive multi trade person will most likely cost more as in a lot of cases the work will need to be corrected. Such 'handyman ' work won't necessarily last as long as a proper job done by a skilled tradesman. Although handymen may charge a cheaper day rate, it's not an economy as they will in a number of cases take two times as long to accomplish the job and you may have to get in a tradesman to do or proper repair job if it does not last or, far worse, to mend other damage that may result from a poor job.

Handymen and bad builders give the whole industry an awful reputation which is grossly unfair as the great majority of builders and building firms are professionally trained trades people. Professional building firms like SIS Construction will employ skilles artisans and have a good range of building accreditations.

Additionally, handymen can use poor tools, which hasn't been correctly checked or serviced, making the site dangerous and possibly causing harm to them and you.

You want to check out whoever you employ (and their tools if you have any doubts) carefully. Remember that if they are not insured or trained in health and safety then you could be open to prosecution or other legal liabilities should an accident happen.

SIS Construction is a family owned and run builder, based in Hungerford, Berkshire, with a lots of experience and employing all building trades. They undertake a wide range of building projects including repairs, maintenance, alterations, extensions, refurbishment and development as well as new builds.

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December 15 2011 | Carpentry | No Comments »

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