How much do you 'DIY' around the house vs calling a professional?

Home & DIY Electronics & DIY Projects
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How comfortable are you in fixing stuff?

For example, in electrical section.

  • Replace broken switches.
  • Replace entire electrical switch board adding new sockets.
  • Adding inverter connection to a socket.
  • Running new cables around the house.

Or in plumbing

  • Replace leaky/broken taps.
  • Adding new taps and new pipes (usage of pvc cement).

Or carpentry

  • Painting existing furniture.
  • Fixing broken parts (usage of hand saw/ jigsaw/ drill etc).
  • Creating entire furniture out of wood/plywood along with finishing.

Please share your experiences.

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For smaller electrical tasks, like replacing a switch, fan regulator, capacitor, broken wires, or plugs. I usually prefer to handle them myself.

I always try to identify the source of any unusual noise before calling an electrician. That way, I avoid unnecessary part replacements, which they tend to suggest right away.

Most electricians charge ₹500 just for a visit, and many aren’t particularly professional in their approach.

Drilling into walls for hanging stuff and into wooden door frames to run ethernet wires is a common. But you need both the right tools and some basic know how.

Tools accumulate over time, and sometimes you know exactly what needs to be done, but you’re missing that one specific tool. At that point, it becomes a choice, buy the tool, or call the professional.

Tools, tools, tools. You can never have enough of them.

And sometimes, in our confidence of “knowing it all,” we end up making things worse while trying to fix them, only to later think, maybe I should’ve just called a professional in the first place.

And then the proffessional comes and looks at me like

How did this happen?

I be like all happened by itself

and while he fixes, I watch him like this, understanding where I went wrong.

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I have no experience with DIY regarding the 3 things you mentioned, but have recently started feeling immense frustration while dealing with a local plumber who has been taking us for a ride over the years. I’d like to start working on small things myself. What would you guys recommend? Just following tutorials on YT and giving it a shot myself?

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I pretty much can do all the tasks which you have listed. I love DIY. Although my wife says I take 10x the time to do a thing as compared to if he would call the guy to fix it :stuck_out_tongue:

Growing up the environment around me was like that. I very well know that my time is more precious than just calling some guy to fix it but
A. getting a guy who is truly a professional is hard
B. what’s the fun in that.

With same-day Amazon delivery, it’s always “buy the tool”. I probably have 2 cabinets full of tools now :smiley:

I can definitely relate to this.

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I am such a noob when it comes to all this and I only realize now how much of a disadvantage it is to not know these things. Especially in modern days, I think it’s becoming harder and more expensive to get help for all these things, even in more remote areas.

Only thing I am happy I picked up recently is to learn how to crimp network cables but like, I’m such a dunce about electrical/plumbing/carpentry.

Anyone who picked these skills up recently? How did y’all do it post adulthood? Any advise for those looking to learn at a late age?

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I’m dependent on the tradesmen for getting all those things done. While I’ve acquired a few tools, I’m not adept and confident at doing those things.

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I agree with @Heisen, Tools, Tools…Tools

I grew up on a farm and started working on engines at a very early age. Most of the time, it was not easy for us to get professional help, so we had no choice but to fix our stuff. After my engineering (software variety), I could work on heavy electrical appliances as well as electronic equipment.

So the only time I have to call someone is to get some help with manual labour involved in the task, or if I am away.

I no longer touch plumbing and masonry stuff because it requires cleanup afterwards.

I no longer touch 3-phase supply on our farm(s), I mean, I work out the engineering and call our guy to work on live wires.

These days, most of my DIY is limited to electronics, computers, and electrical stuff. Mechanical stuff is limited to my RE.

Don’t be a tool and always get the right tools for the job.

If you don’t understand something, call someone. See them do it, and maybe next time you will be confident enough to attempt it yourself.

Never attempt a DIY (first time) just to save money; more often than not, you will end up spending extra.

There is nothing wrong if you can’t fix something yourself, but it’s never too learn some basic stuff.

And most importantly, it’s more difficult to find a good tech than it is to find love. So if you find THAT guy…never lose him.

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As much as I can but I don’t go too much ninja on electricity cables.

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Wouldnt suggest everyone to do it but,

Replaced my entire house’s wiring with copper. Took me a month of section by section wiring.

Reduced my house bill by 3% (was it worth it?)

Wasnt worth the time but was a fun project to DIY. Plus it was very much needed since the “professionally done” wiring previously was basically a nest of wires going anywhere to everywhere.

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I don’t do Housing(Switch box,Power boards)DIYs in my house since it’s rented but always into DIY repairs of household electronics. sweet memory of mine since my childhood days (i.e 5th standard) I used to climb almirah and replace the Capacitor of Ceiling fan at my home on my own the kid in me felt like I’m a Tesla lol.
I used to keep colection of screws, wires, Drivers, LEDs , Batteries, old Nokia Chargers etc everything related to Electricals and Electronics in a Plastic box. but dang my father burned them all as scrap:(

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I have done 100% of every thing you mentioned.

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Now everything is available on youtube. Watch the process first all the way then do it. You will mess up few times, that’s how we learn.

People often pick up these skills by observing a family member usually a father or another relative. Without that early exposure, it becomes much harder to learn as an adult. Having a mentor can dramatically shorten the learning curve.

That is natural because we are not doing these things on daily basis, it’s not our trade.

It’s fine not to do things in which we are not comfortable. Paying the tradesmen is the way to go for all these household works.

Except basic automotive knowledge, like changing a car tyre etc. That skill will be more valuable.

Those are hard to find. Sometimes paying them extra works, they remember you once you do that, they sometimes put extra effort knowing that the guy prefers quality and things done right and is willing to pay extra.

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My cousin is super into all these things but alas, young me didn’t pay much attention. Hopefully I’ll show interest and tag along in his future ventures. I wish some of the folks here were nearby so I could tag along with them hehe :sweat_smile:

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My father and grandfather used to DIY everything so I learnt a lot as a child.

Now, I do the small electrical work like replacing switches and switch board, but anything more is safer to let the professionals handle it even when knowing how it’s done. Same with plumbing and carpentry requiring heavy tools. Father still likes to paint on old wood doors, metal gates, cooler, etc.

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I agree it’s very hard to pick on these things if you don’t have an early exposure. At my in-laws place they call the handyman to even hang a clock on wall. They have just a Philips Screwdriver and a hammer in terms of the tools they have.

I spent 10 years in US. In US, most people do everything on their own, since labour is very expensive. I have assembled Ikea furniture, painted walls, fixed cars, did wiring, plumbing, fixed HVAC systems, washing machine and much more… all thanks to Youtube and HomeDepot :stuck_out_tongue:

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In Australia it’s illegal to fix your own house wiring. I mean you are not allowed to even replace a light bulb according to their govt. You are suppose to hire someone for every single electrical job. It’s their code.

But people still do it, cause not everyone has that kind of money or they don’t have the time to call and wait for someone.

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I do most of them you mentioned. At first i give it a try and if i found it is not my cup of tea then only i ask for help.I purchased many tools like angle grinders, drillers, wood cutters, electric screwdrivers, many elctrical and mechanical equipments etc. which help me to repair things easily. It gives me pretty much satisfaction after i repair them. I feel like i can do everything :sweat_smile:

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I am not an expert but can do small wiring (Wire extension) or changing switches etc… Regarding plumbing changing knobs or fixing small leakage problems is easy but can’t do anything from scratch. Tried my hands on wood but failed, My biggest achievement was making a small cricket bat from wood which took me almost a month as I wasn’t using correct tools and would use cheap sand paper to rub and get it to shape (It was pure hard work, But hell yeah I made it)

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I do changing switches, door bell, small plumbing repairs and small paint repairs as well. Haven’t done any carpentry work but would like to try.

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For me, this feels like a bit of a luxury. Before starting my job, I had the chance to try my hand at plumbing and a bit of carpentry, though my alignment skills were far from perfect! I really enjoyed doing those kinds of things. I even made a couple of dustpans and an ashtray out of aluminium sheets. These days, I just don’t have the luxury of time to get into that kind of hands-on work.