"Will we save money if we do it ourselves?"

Builders are asked this every. single. day.

But it's the wrong question to ask. We'll use our Stacey and Mike's story to help explain why... 

When we first met Stacey and her husband Mike, they were stuck in analysis paralysis (just because it rhymes doesn’t mean it’s fun). They were completely and utterly overwhelmed thinking about what they should and shouldn’t include in their building contract.

Stacey wanted to save as much money as possible, so she kept asking the builder “Will we save money if we do this ourselves?” to which the builder always replied, “yes” so she added more and more things to Mike’s to do list. 

But Mike, on the other hand, was more worried about the sheer amount of work he needed to take on himself. He didn’t have the time to paint the entire house from top to bottom, and to be honest, he wasn’t all that confident in his DIY skills either.

With the hundreds of tiny decisions the pair had to make, the stress turned to bickering and the excited feeling they once shared for their dream home build turned into dread. That was until they realised they were asking the wrong questions. 

Instead of asking “will we save money if we do this ourselves?” they should have been asking...

“is the money we would save, worth the hassle of doing this work ourselves?” 

Sure, they might have saved a few dollars if they installed the exhaust fan themselves.

But the hassle of organising their own electrician, then cutting into the roof and risking a water leak (then voiding all the builder’s warranties!!) isn’t worth the small amount they saved. 

However, there are some big ticket items where they could organise the tradesperson themselves to avoid paying a bucket load of builders' margin. For example, Builder’s tend to add a lot of margin to work like decorative aggregate concrete but on most building sites, it’s a straightforward, easy job to arrange after construction. So all Mike needed to do was make a call to book the concreter in and he saved thousands. Just like that. It’s so simple. 

Knowing what was worth arranging themselves, helped them come together as a team and agree on areas that caused them a headache previously.

Together, they designed their dream home and moved forward with their build with the confidence of a boss.

Our handy ‘Ultimate Home Building Budget Spreadsheet’, not only helps you compare builder’s quotes and budget for everything. It also indicates which work might be worth organising yourself to save $$$$. 

It is now available to download for only $19!