New data has uncovered that Brits could save over £3,000 by doing jobs in the home themselves rather than hiring a professional, which is estimated to cost DOUBLE in 2023.
The winter months of a new year always see Brits looking to spruce up their living spaces for a fresh start. However, this year money is tighter than ever, so it’s important to cut costs where possible.
To uncover how much Brits could save by doing DIY jobs rather than hiring a professional, researchers at interiors brand, Bobbi Beck, have analysed 28 typical redecorating and renovating jobs around the home.
Each material cost was listed for each DIY job down to the tools and materials used to calculate the overall estimated cost, and whether it’d be cheaper to hire a professional tradesman or not.
Is it cheaper to do home renovations yourself or hire a professional?
The data shows that on average, it is 50% cheaper to undertake a DIY home job rather than hiring a professional. Brits can expect to save almost £3,250 by getting their hands dirty rather than getting someone to do it for you.
The total price to redecorate and renovate your entire house yourself is expected to cost over £4,800 on average, versus over £8,000 if you hire professionals, which is more than a 50% difference.
Out of the 28 tasks investigated, over 70% were cheaper to do yourself including:
- Replacing a door knob – costing £9.28, which is 7.46% cheaper than a professional.
- Bleeding a radiator – costing £1.29, which is 194.90% cheaper than a professional.
- Sealing windows and doors – costing £7.50, which is 172.09% cheaper than a professional.
- Plastering a wall – costing £186.29, which is 142.06% cheaper than a professional.
- Tiling a bathroom – costing £242.47, which is 122.68% cheaper than a professional.
- Hanging wallpaper – costing £78.29, which is 164.34% cheaper than a professional.
- Painting woodwork – costing £29.99, which is 104.02% cheaper than a professional.
- Resealing a bath – costing £21.88, which is 118.11% cheaper than a professional.
- Unblocking a sink – costing £10.45, which is 140.66% cheaper than a professional.
- Wall-mounting a TV – costing £95.98, which is 4.10% cheaper than a professional.
- Assembling flat pack furniture – costing £58.05, which is 43.16% cheaper than a professional.
- Changing a radiator – costing £93.31, which is 28.40% cheaper than a professional.
- Painting walls and furniture – costing £36.90, which is 151.90% cheaper than a professional.
- Replacing a light fitting – £37.30, which is 50.50% cheaper than a professional.
- Filling cracks in walls – £28.64, which is 149.89% cheaper than a professional.
- Painting front door – £57.48, which is 118.60 cheaper than a professional.
- Hanging shelves – £42.24, which is 130.25% cheaper than a professional.
- Wiring a light switch – £15.44, which is 162.66% cheaper than a professional.
- Fixing an indoor leaking tap – £36.40, which is 117.46% cheaper than a professional.
- Laying decking – £188.59, which is 155.32% cheaper than a professional.
Plastering a wall is evidently the best job to take on yourself if you’re looking to save some cash, with a possible saving of £914 if you do it yourself.
Which DIY jobs are cheaper if you hire a professional?
Despite being cheaper overall, there are a number of DIY jobs that actually would be more cost effective to hire a professional.
According to findings, the following eight jobs are cheaper if you hire someone to do them for you:
- Fitting a carpet – costing £135, which is 154.02% cheaper than DIY.
- Putting up a curtain rail – costing £45, which is 64.29% cheaper than DIY.
- Hanging pictures and mirrors – costing £45, which is 58.18% cheaper than DIY.
- Laying a patio – costing £1,200, which is 22.85% cheaper than DIY.
- Chimney sweeping – costing £65, which is 34.29% cheaper than DIY.
- Changing a plug socket – costing £40, which is 138.71% cheaper than DIY.
- Cleaning the gutter – costing £150, which is 70.61% cheaper than DIY.
- Fitting a lock – costing £80, which is 92.63% cheaper than DIY.
The task which is clearly better value for money to hire a professional is for fitting a carpet, only costing £135 when hiring someone is over £1,039.47, which is a £904.47 difference compared to DIY.
Which DIY jobs are the most high-risk?
Clearly, you can save a significant amount of money by getting your hands dirty and trying your hand at home DIY. But it’s important to note that some jobs are high risk if they go wrong, and you could end up spending more to fix your mistakes.
Advising Brits on the more difficult DIY tasks, James Mellan-Matulewicz from Bobbi Beck said:
“Getting stuck into some DIY is always a great activity for people wanting to get a bit more hands-on and save some money, but sometimes it would be smarter and safer to hire a professional.”
“Yes, this research shows that most jobs are cheaper to do yourself, but some do require a professional as they can possibly be very challenging to do yourself, such as: plastering a wall, tiling a bathroom, changing a radiator, wiring a lightswitch and laying decking.”
“Professional tradesmen are finetuned in their skills and capabilities that not everybody can pull off straight away. Certain DIY jobs may be cheaper but can be very difficult to pull off, so consider leaving some of these heavy-duty or possibly dangerous tasks to the professionals.”
Commenting on the findings, James Mellan-Matulewicz said:
“DIY is booming and rightly so, especially when this data shows that you can potentially save over £3,200 getting stuck into some DIY compared to hiring a professional. To renovate and redecorate an entire house could be costing you over £4,800 so now that spring is just around the corner, now could be the time to start planning your DIY ventures.”
Bobbi Beck have released this data to uncover how much the overall estimated difference in hiring a professional in comparison to doing DIY, to calculate how much you could possibly save by redecorating and renovating your house. Find a full data hub on the topic here.
