Own work - floor coverings, painting, tiling, what else?

As someone who has two left hands, and unfortunately so does my husband, we can hardly imagine much in that regard anyway. However, I have two examples from well-known builders who are certainly much more skilled than we are and still "messed up" with the topic of own labor.

One couple wanted to lay tiles with the (also dexterous) rest of the family, and what was the end of the story? On the one hand, timing went poorly; the tiles could only be laid later than planned, which did not please the helpers who were scheduled in advance, leading to the first dispute. Afterwards, the visual end result was not exactly as imagined, as they were not professionals. Disputes continued. The end of the story: "we would never do it like this again."

The others wanted to do practically all the interior finishing themselves, which was not entirely unreasonable given their professional background, but apparently also total overestimation. It just doesn’t work out; there were problems here as well. Soon you are several months behind schedule, rent keeps running... even if it is only 750 Euro rent, times 4... the current sentiment here: "even if it had been somewhat more expensive without the own labor, after subtracting rent and nerves it wouldn’t have been much more."

I don’t know if such negative aspects were also asked for, but I wouldn’t rely too much on own labor.

Hi, I also think that painting work is not really worth it. Friends of ours excluded the painting work from the package. After they had bought all the material, there was nearly 1500 euros left over in the end. But for that, they spent 7 or 8 weekends together working completely on the construction site and painting. So 1500 euros for 14 full working days... The problem with trades like painting or tiling is that the professionals are always significantly faster and hopefully deliver better quality. As a hobby craftsman, you usually can’t compete with that.

Click laminate or floating parquet can probably be done yourself. Assembling the kitchen also works well on your own. And following the suggestions here in the forum, we will venture into the adventure of installing the ventilation ourselves... will that go well? Ask me again in a few months...

Best regards,

Andreas

Hi,

may I ask,

50 sqm in 4 rooms took us 5 whole days with 2 carpenters, and the coverings were very easy to install. (incl. skirting boards)

what kind of floor coverings were those? I have laid click laminate floating several times, you can easily do 50 sqm alone in a weekend?!? Unless you have really crooked walls and floors...

Many greetings,

Andreas

Painting is definitely worth it - if someone would do the painting work for 1500 euros, I would be extremely happy

I have now paid 1100 euros for paints and have 14 buckets of Brillux paints - [Eigenkapital-Preise] . In addition, there is some plaster, roller plaster, and finishing filler.

For a painter, we would probably have paid 8 grand or more...

Still not a job that’s fun...

Electrical work is definitely worth it if you can do it or have friends who can - officially I would have paid more than 25,000 euros for the package. Now I’m not even at half...

what kind of flooring was that? I have laid click laminate floating several times, 50 sqm you can easily do alone in a weekend?!? Unless you have really crooked walls and floors...

Best regards,

Andreas

It was click laminate, and if you’re doing it for the first time, it’s not just slapped together. The laying only took 3 days (the hallway just doesn’t rock that much). The moldings were nonsense because we wanted to be particularly clever with click moldings. Only you couldn’t slide the parts on cleanly. The inventor should be shot. Even my dead quiet, calm father, a carpenter with 40 years of experience, got fuming mad. The last crap. We actually wanted to throw it back at the specialist dealer, but it was Sunday...

Of all trades, the flooring in the bedrooms is still the most sensible thing you can do yourself. You don’t get in anyone else’s way, and the effort is relatively manageable depending on the case. Wallpaper is not worth doing yourself, if at all only painting (although sanding beforehand wouldn’t be a gift either).
In my calculation, I didn’t include the longer rent. But at some point there could also be costs from interest after the interest-free provision period.
DIY work is a nice thing, but if relatives/friends do it, you mustn’t complain afterward. Laying tiles is not easy. Many things can go wrong or just be hung crooked. And then stress is guaranteed. As I said, we only did the floors. In the bedroom, in one corner, the clicked piece came loose at one spot (you can feel the edge). Our bad luck, it stays that way now. If a friend had done that, we would have been annoyed.

Hi,

may I ask,

what kind of floor coverings those were? I have laid click laminate floating several times already, 50 sqm you can easily do alone in one weekend?!? Unless you have really crooked walls and floors...

Many greetings,

Andreas

50 sqm laid in a weekend - then you definitely have two left hands
On weekends one can easily do much more, then another day for the baseboards. Click vinyl is even faster (even easier to cut) - I laid one room today in a little over 1.5 hours. And that as an office worker...