Nasreen Badrodien

While a DIY project can bring a sense of accomplishment, certain home tasks are best left to the pros. We break down when to DIY and when to hire top-rated experts to save time, money, and your sanity The DIY dilemma There’s a certain pride that comes with tackling a home project on your own, right? Whether it’s painting a wall, assembling furniture, or finally hanging that shelf you’ve been eyeing – there’s an undeniable satisfaction in the process. But DIY isn’t always the time-and-money saver we imagine it to be. In fact, sometimes the project you think will take a Saturday afternoon ends up dragging into next month’s nightmare, not to mention an extra bill from a professional who now has to clean up the mess. The decision to go DIY or call in a pro depends on more than just your enthusiasm. It’s about time, cost-effectiveness, and, let’s be honest, whether you really want to end up with a leaking toilet because you ‘thought’ you could manage the plumbing fix yourself. The benefits of DIY (when it works) There’s no denying that DIY can be rewarding. If you’ve ever successfully installed a new light fixture or repainted a room, you’ll know the thrill of admiring your handiwork. You’ve saved money, learned a new skill, and earned some serious bragging rights. Here’s when DIY can be your best bet Small, non-technical jobs Tasks like painting, gardening, or changing light bulbs are safe to handle yourself and can be great for weekend warriors. These don’t require specialised knowledge, just a bit of patience and maybe a YouTube tutorial here and there. The personal touch DIY can add a personal, creative flair to your space. Want to build a quirky bookshelf? It’s the kind of project that lets you flex your inner artist while adding unique charm to your home. Cost-saving (sometimes…) DIY is often seen as a cheaper alternative – and, in some cases, it is. But you need to factor in the cost of materials, tools, and time. Sometimes, what you …

Gutters, paint, roof, walls, and pools – important seasonal home maintenance is often forgotten until the very first drop of rain (and that annoying new leak) When you think of winter weekends, you think of thick blankets and warm fires. What you don’t think of is home maintenance, repairs and doing a basic service on essential things around the home. This is exactly what Kandua.com found too – when it comes to roofing, gutters, and waterproofing, eighty per cent of South Africans only pay attention to essential home maintenance when it’s too late. For those north of Cape Town, spring isn’t just the turn of the season, it’s the number of leaks that have appeared after the first rain. If waterproofing, painting and roof and gutter maintenance aren’t done before the rainy season – leaks and damp spots spring up all over the house. According to Kandua, May, June and July are incredibly quiet when it comes to roofers, gutter specialists, and water proofers, with less than twenty percent of these requests being posted during this period. However, this is exactly when you should be focusing on essential home maintenance such as waterproofing the roof and walls, checking for leaks, and ageing tiles, and emptying your gutters after the trees have shed their weight. When the first rain hits in spring, outside of the Western Cape, the dry season will have created cracks or opened new holes that will immediately damage your home and walls. In fact, for those who suddenly woke up in September, October, and November – Kandua saw a dramatic spike to nearly seventy percent in September alone – there may have been a few extra expensive surprises that came along with the rain. Because the problem with delaying maintenance is that one problem can cascade into ten more and this gets expensive and frustrating. While procrastinating under a pile of blankets is the easiest thing to do in the middle of winter, the cost to your bank balance actually goes up if you leave things …