Quote:
Originally Posted by DoubleF
If I DIY, I personally wouldn't touch in wall electrical, in wall plumbing or gas. Swap a fixture, shower head, toilet... sure. But the rest of it, I wouldn't touch myself. I know a guy who is super handy and he does everything other than in wall plumbing, HVAC and electrical. He charges me a special rate as a favor and it's hard to justify DIY when I could pay the dude a few hundred bucks to do it much faster and properly vs what I'd end up doing.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by pylon
The extent of my electrical work was changing out light switches, fixtures and receptacles. Any electrical work where things need to be wired to the electrical panel, I'll always call a pro. I'd never want to have that conversation with an insurance adjuster if my house burnt down.
|
I don't know, I think as long as the person actually takes the time to learn what they're doing and it's all permitted and inspected, working on electrical, plumbing, or HVAC is totally doable (though I agree on gas).
I re-wired my entire house and redid the panel when I renovated and it was great. I was pretty slow compared to a pro because I made sure to triple check everything, but I was able to totally bring my 40-year old house up to current electrical standards for a couple thousand dollars (excluding light fixtures).
Same with bathrooms. By doing all the work, I've been able to totally gut bathrooms for $2-3K. It's a lot of work and it absolutely takes way longer than hiring a pro, but I enjoy doing it.
Obviously you need to know your limits though. Anything involving my roof, gutters, or soffits, I call a pro because I know I'd probably end up falling off the roof or ladder and breaking my neck.