By Lew Sichleman
Publication Date: 11-07-2004
Publication: San Diego Union Tribune, Housing Scene Section
URL: http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20041107/news_1h7sichel.html

WASHINGTON – The woman on the other end of the line was "all frantic." Her boyfriend had said he could replace her front door, no problem.

But it was getting dark on the Saturday evening that handyman Larry Robinson's phone rang, and her sweetheart still hadn't been able to make the darn thing fit.

When Robinson arrived at Renee Broussard's house in Covington, La., an hour or so later, he found two exasperated people – Renee, who was worried that she was going to spend the rest of the weekend with a gaping hole in her wall, and her honey, who'd "been fooling with (the door) for quite a while."

"It was a nice door, with stained glass and all," says Robinson, who owns the House Doctors franchise in Covington about 35 miles north of New Orleans. "But he had the hinges set too far in, and the thing just wouldn't line up."

Welcome to that part of the do-it-yourself craze they don't show on television shows like "Trading Spaces," "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" or even "This Old House." It's the part where things don't go right, no matter how hard you try.

Do-it-yourselfers accounted for roughly 20 percent of the $177 billion Americans spent last year on home improvement and repair projects big and small, according to the Census Bureau, laying out upward of $35 billion a year on kitchen cabinets, saws, floor tiles, hammers, light fixtures and numerous other products and tools.

Their desire, of course, is to save money. If they hired a professional, says Gopal Ahluwalia, an economist with the National Association of Home Builders, they'd spend three times as much.

But no one keeps tabs on how much money DIYers waste because they botch jobs and have to call in a professional to finish what they started.

House Doctors President Steve Cohen figures that one out of every 10 times the phone rings at his 200-plus franchisees in 43 states, the call is from an unhappy homeowner who bungled a remodeling project – or a wife who's afraid her husband is about to tackle something for which he's woefully unprepared.

"Everybody sees the home-improvement shows on television and thinks, 'Wow, we can do this and we can do that,' " says Cohen, who spent 12 years as a Sears carpet and upholstery cleaning licensee before starting House Doctors in 1994. "But they never see the behind-the-scenes work involved that got the project to that point."

Mark Richardson, president of Case Handyman Services, a smaller, Bethesda, Md.-based chain, has had the same experience. Forty percent of the 20,000 inquiries his company receives in a year's time come on Mondays, "which tells me a good percentage are from weekend warriors" who started a project they couldn't finish.

There's also no telling how much more money DIYers end up spending when they must turn to professionals to bail them out. That all depends on the particular project and how much they've done correctly before reaching a point where they can't go any further.

It's one thing to pull up some ceramic tile that's not laid straight, for example. But it's another thing entirely to replace a load-bearing 2-by-4 cut out in error to put in a new window.

In the case of the aforementioned and ill-advised entry door incident, Robinson says he charged the Louisiana couple only $75 for the hour and a half he spent making it fit. But if everything you've done has to be undone so the job can be redone correctly, which is too often the case, Richardson says "it almost always costs more than if a professional did it right the first time."

What about those jobs where everything goes right, up to a point? Say you're replacing wall tile in the bathroom. You've ripped out the old stuff, put up new sheathing and then hit the proverbial brick wall?

"Not necessarily everything you do is for naught. Sometimes people do create value," says the Maryland contractor. "But even then, it's often still more expensive to go back and redo someone else's work; I'd say 25 to 100 percent more expensive, depending on the job and how bad it has been screwed up."

This isn't intended to discourage competent homeowners from taking matters into their own hands. Rather, it's to warn you to proceed cautiously, lest you get in so far over your head that you end up shelling out far more money than you might have otherwise.

Richardson encourages homeowners to think about their repair and improvement projects as levels of risk. He suggests, "Ask yourself, 'If I screw up, what are the consequences?' "

The Cincinnati-based Cohen of House Doctors also advises home-repair warriors to take an honest assessment of their own skills and experience, as well as make a candid evaluation of how much time it will take to complete the work. Even something that seems simple, like installing a ceiling fan, can be difficult if you don't have the correct tools or only a few minutes to do the job.

"Don't begin something unless there is time to do it right," Cohen cautions. "Plan accordingly based on your real abilities. Realize that it's not always about dollars. Even if you know what you are doing, it could take months to put up a deck when you work only at night and weekends, whereas a professional can knock it out in days. It's tough to put a value on that."

Another consideration is whether the project involves mostly materials or mostly labor. Even though professionals often purchase materials at discount, the savings usually is greatest if you can do the work yourself. Two-thirds of what contractors typically charge is for labor and overhead, which are two things DIYers don't have to worry about.

When to fold

With these warnings in mind, here's an idea of some of the more common home repair disasters:

Tile repair: Replacing a cracked tile or two isn't such an easy task, as many DIYers have found. You need the right tools to remove the broken tile, clean out the old grout, and cut the new pieces. House Doctors has seen instances where nonhandymen and -women have removed entire floors when only a single tile was broken.

Bathtub/shower caulking: It looks so easy. After all, it's just like squeezing a tube of toothpaste. But if the hole you cut on the tip is too large or not on the correct angle, the stuff can come gushing out and you've got a real mess on your hands – not to mention clothes, walls and everywhere else.

Drywall repair: Holes caused by doorknobs are no big deal to a professional who does drywall work day in and day out. But when an inexperienced homeowner tries to do the work, a 3-inch hole often becomes a 3-foot chasm.

Hanging drywall: Again, it looks simple. But it takes at least two real, live people – and sometimes a "deadman." Do you have any idea what that is?

Also, if the screw heads are too deep, they will break the paper covering. And it's tough to spackle and sand joints so they are smooth and even.

Cohen says that one House Doctors franchisee, called to a house by a distraught wife who had given her husband a solid year to finish off their basement, found that the drywall he put up had been hung with nails. Also, all the cutouts for light switches and electrical outlets on the drywall that hadn't been hung had been reversed.

Floor resurfacing: What's the big deal? Rent an orbital sander, buy some stain and away you go, right? Maybe. But are you prepared for all the dust you're going to make when the sander hits the wood? Also, if some of the floorboards are warped, they can crack or buckle when sanding.

This is a job that takes days, not hours, says Cohen, if only because the coats of stain need time to dry.

Basic electrical work: Working with electricity can be dangerous. It is not uncommon for a do-it-yourselfer to ruin an entire ceiling replacing a heavy light fixture, or an entire wall trying to add another outlet.

Lew Sichelman is a nationally syndicated writer based in Washington. E-mail him at lsichelman@aol.com.
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