DIY - The Five BIG Things You Must Do!

If you are planning on a little bit of DIY, you can save some serious cash with these five steps!

Everybody talks about all the little things that you can do to save money when you are doing DIY, and as valid as these are, they pale into insignificance compared with doing the big things well.

I know, because I renovated my house - and I didn't follow the rules. Needless to say, three years on I have already had to refit the shower room and still have a number of little jobs left to do.

So when I decided to set up my own retail business a few months ago, I was confident I could fit my first shop myself - because I'd learned the hard way, from my own mistakes!

Here are five steps to DIY perfection:

Step 1) Make a plan and stick to it!

Changed your mind halfway through a job? Bought something that was on 'special' only to find it goes with nothing in the room? These are all common mistakes, mistakes that I have made. The number one way of saving money on any renovation or DIY project is to plan and stick to it!

Write the plan down and make a note of the budget, your timeline, required jobs and who is going to complete them and your vision of the finished room or home. Once you have done this, add in a contingency for time and budget and then do the most important thing: follow and update the plan.

To give the plan more structure I now use a Gannt chart. This is a simple and effective way of laying out all the jobs and time lines. If you keep this updated, you will also be able to predict a revised end date should something get delayed.

Step 2) Speed - Going slow will cost you

If you are renovating to sell, the quicker you complete a job the less you will pay in interest on loans such as your mortgage, the less time you will have your money tied up, and the more likely you are to achieve your target sale price.

Related goal

Make home improvements

Find out how to make valuable home improvements to your home without spending a fortune.

Do this goal

If you are renovating your own home, completing the job quickly means less hassle and inconvenience - not to mention expense if, for example, you are living somewhere else while the work is being completed. Also, life's events have a habit of ruining your plans, so you may not get it finished unless you apply urgency.  

Set yourself targets and goals to achieve within a set timescale - and then reward yourself (and any helpers!) when you complete them on time.

• Adopt this goal: Make home improvements

Step 3) Get your finances sorted

If you are developing a property to sell and you need a mortgage, then make sure you factor in the set up and exit fees, as these are likely to be more significant than the interest rate over a short time period. You can take advantage of our innovative mortgage tool to find the best mortgages currently available for your situation.

If the work is less substantial, it's still worth considering carefully how you are going to pay for it. If you've got the money upfront and are making large purchases, it's wise to use a cashback card. With the American Express Platinum Card, you can earn up to 5% cashback with each purchase, for the first three months.

Alternatively, you could get a 0% purchases card and buy everything interest-free for up to a year. The top cards to go for are the Sainsbury's Nectar card credit card and the Tesco Clubcard Mastercard, both of which will give you 12 months free of interest. Just make sure you clear the balance in full before the promotional 0% period is up, or you'll start racking up interest at around 16% a year.

If you need to borrow a significant amount over several years, it's probably better to get a personal loan. Rates currently start at 7.9% APR or you could go to Zopa, a cheap alternative to the high street banks.

However you decide to fund your purchases, if you buy anything that costs more than £100, make sure you pay for it with a credit card. That way, you'll get Section 75 protection if the company you buy from goes bust or fails to deliver the goods or services as they were described.

• Watch this video: Don’t get caught out by negative order of payment

Step 4) Get the right people for the job

Doing everything yourself will be a false economy. With some projects, you either won't do a good job, or it will add time to the project. Do the things you know you are good at, and let experts do their thing. Remember the basics when getting trades people in:

• Shop around - get at least three quotes and make sure they are quoting for the same thing.
• Talk to friends and colleagues to get recommendations. If this is not possible, then websites such as upmystreet.com, mybuilder.com and checkatrade.com not only help you find local trades-people, but show you recommendation scores and comments from customers. Check these out to get extra piece of mind.
• Use your mates - Know a tradesman that can give you mates' rates? Or can you bribe mates to provide the muscle in return for a pint? If you can, then do it. You may also have more fun in the process.

Step 5) Recycle

Does it need to go into the bin, or can it be sold? Do you need to get everything new, or can you use second-hand? Your scrap may be perfect for somebody else, or vice versa.

Join Freecycle and Snaffleup to get second-hand goods for free or to get rid of the stuff you don't want. This will save you the time and money of tipping or skipping it.

These rules actually work

So, did the rules work for me? Well I fitted my shop in 16 days, including rewiring, plumbing and fitting a 4-meter square counter. The house is still to be finished!

This is a lovemoney.com classic article originally published in July 2009 and updated in April 2010.

More: How To Pay For Home Improvements | Which Home Improvements Add The Most Value?

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