Planning Your DIY Project The Right Way
When it comes to saving time and money the best thing you can do is plan your next DIY project.
In this article, we will look at how to plan your DIY projects so that you can control your spending, highlight potential problems and deal with them and ensure you use your time wisely and avoid having to do things more than once.
You can find links to our helpful timesaving DIY planning sheet at the end of the post.
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Planning the right way
It may seem a little counterintuitive but spending some time at the start of a job thinking it through and putting a plan of action and requirements together is going to save you a heap of time in the long run.
Lots of people already do some planning, it may be writing a list of things they need to buy or which tools they need but you can improve on this if you spend a few minutes thinking the process through, from start to finish.
That way you can avoid unnecessary steps, potentially costly problems and get DIY jobs done quickly
So how do you put a great action plan together? By following the simple steps below and you will avoid all sorts of potential issues
When planning your project it’s a great idea to know which jobs you need to prioritise, why not check out our article about setting DIY priorities.
What do you want??
First, clearly identify what you want to achieve. What is your end goal? Is it a small DIY job or a large DIY project?
When do you want it?
When do you want to finish the project? If you have a time scale in mind or a target date, write it down, and use it as a guide to your progress.
Now, how many steps are there between starting the project and finishing it?
You can usually break DIY projects down into smaller manageable tasks, write these down so you have a checklist of things to complete.
If you are not sure or you have never done a job before go and do some research, check online using Google or Youtube, the chances are that someone will have done this before and know-how.
Make notes and keep a record of your ideas, you never know when you might want to reuse them
You can even check out more of our website or listen to the podcast for great DIY tips.
Get the DIY Skills
Once you know what is involved at each stage of the project you can identify if you have the skills to complete each task or will you need to learn something new.
This is a great way to improve your DIY skills and can identify areas where you will need more time.
Remember that target date you wrote down well look at this when you are considering learning a new skill, will you have time? Do you need to practice first?
If not then you may need to consider employing someone else a professional contractor to help out.
This may not be in the spirit of the true DIY’er but if it means the difference between completing a project and living in a total mess for eternity, then it’s probably better to get some help and be able to enjoy the finished product.
By knowing which steps are needed you can consider the impact on other areas, will you need access through a door or room, does that need to be protected or covered?
Quantities
Next, you need to work out how much stuff you will need, if you are painting a wall you will need to know how much paint to buy or when making a cupboard how much wood to cut.
Measuring and estimating quantities will mean you only need to go to the store once and will mean you don’t buy too much or too little, keeping track of this will mean that you are able to keep your costs down.
Small scale surveying is a great DIY skill to develop and with practice, you can become more precise which will save you time and money as you will have little waste left over at the end of a great job.
So which tools do I need?
Once you know which parts you need to buy and which steps to take you will be able to identify what sort of tools you will need.
From this list, you can sort out which tools you have and which one you need to purchase, rent or borrow.
Don’t forget to include safety gear gloves, masks, etc especially when using any sort of power tools.
And finally
Always include time and equipment and sundries for cleaning up, no one wants to live in a DIY mess. So careful planning to get the right equipment will mean that any clearing up shouldn’t become a huge chore.
If you follow these basic steps to planning your DIY project you will save yourself time money and hopefully avoid some of the pitfalls of rushing into a job.
If you want to stay organised keeping a record of the jobs you do can be really useful you never know when you might want to do them again.
Why not create a DIY planning folder to keep your notes in, it could be a physical ring binder on a shelf that you can reference or a folder on a computer to use anywhere.
To help save you time and keep things nice and easy please use the link to get access to our DIY project planning sheet, which you can reuse again and again.
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