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9
Oct
Yesterday I was a guest speaker on the Annie Othen Coventry & Warwickshire Radio show where I was asked to join a discussion regarding DIY. Should you Do It Yourself (DIY) or Get Someone In (GSI)?
Do It Yourself or Get Someone In?
GSI (Get Someone In) is the latest trend as people are putting down their tools and opting to hire tradespeople. Viewers called into Annie Othen’s Coventry & Warwickshire Radio show with stories about accidents they’d had whilst being involved in DIY. It was a light-hearted discussion but DIY can be a serious business with more than 2.7 million people going into A&E and a 4,000 people losing their lives through accidents in the home every year in the UK.
That said DIY can be fun and rewarding if you only take on jobs within your capabilities. My boyfriend Phil and I spend many a weekend trying to progress our property renovation. We take on most tasks ourselves, but for skilled jobs like checking the electrics, plastering and building our extension we will definitely be hiring tradesmen.
Get Someone In - Top Tips
If you decide to Get Someone In there are steps you can take to prevent the worst case scenario:
- Plan projects so that you can communicate what you need and minimise changes at a later date
- Research - it can’t hurt to look into what you need - be more informed so you can ask the right questions
- Ask neighbours and friends for recommendations
- Use JuggleFrogs local search facility, then filter the results to find the skills you need
- If possible get three tradespeople to assess the requirements and give you a quote
- Understand the quotes but also take into account whether or not you think they can do the job, their experience and your relationship with them - will they will listen to you? Building work is not easy, things can go wrong and change, its important for both parties that you have good communication and a happy working relationship.
- Get references and where applicable contact previous customers
- Always agree the price upfront
- For large works make sure you have a contract in place, even something simple will help should the worst happen
If you fancy listening to the DIY or Get Someone In discussion then click here: Annie Othen on Coventry & Warwickshire Radio.
A big thank you to Annie Othen and her team at Coventry & Warwickshire Radio for having JuggleFrogs on the show! Hopefully we added to the debate - so what do you think? DIY or Get Someone In?
- Published by Miranda in: Find Tradesmen
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One Response to “Get Someone In”
It depends on the job, but usually there is one particular reason not to GSI. Unless you can get a recommendation it’ll take to umpteen phone calls to find someone even interested in turning up and looking at the job you want done. The idea of getting multiple quotes is laughable, it’s a blessed relief to find someone, anyone, willing to give you a quote at all. And after you accept out of desperation, you are then trusting that someone you don’t know is going to take the care you expect. Well try not to be too disappointed afterwards, you’ll probably spend a few months of weekends putting it right. No, unless the job is beyond you (and you have to make a fair judgement on that) the least hassle way is to DIY. The air may turn blue occasionally, but you don’t get experience by just reading the manuals.
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