Why we hired out for phase 1 Renovations On Star Acre

Yes, I know we are full fledge DIYers. We have been doing this for almost nine years, starting off working deals with our landlords we had rented from to help update the places we were living for discounts from our rent. (PS if you are in a fixer-upper as a rental, this could be a really good start off point for you if you have a good relationship with your landlord). One of our landlords even told us that the place looked twice as expensive for rent when we left it then when we started living there.

But, with massive structural changes, we learned from the last house, that sometimes it is 1000% worth it to hire someone who has more knowledge than we do.

When we got the keys to this house two months ago, we were overwhelmed. Rob was just finishing up his wedding season for 2022, I was about to jump right into the busiest season for a blogger, we had three kids who needed help transitioning into this new home, and there was just so many other exterior factors that were causing us to freeze and not know how to move forward.

We knew that we were really good at finishing work. We've always hired out electrical and plumbing, and we also had a strong feeling that one of the walls we wanted to remove was loadbearing. We were not going to risk trying to build our own beam to hold up our new house. So, as soon as we have an accepted offer on the house back in September, I started hunting for a contractor because I knew going into this if we could have someone "get the bones into place" per se, Rob and I could spend the winter making it exactly what we wanted.

After three different contractors came into our home to quote the two wall situations, we were able to hire Dn'D Construction who is owned by someone I grew up with and the father of one of Poppy's friends. We were fortunate enough that they were on a large exterior project locally and needed a rain date job on the side. We were even more fortunate that it has rained a lot over the last three weeks. Within 2 1/2 weeks of working a few hours here and there at the end of the day or during rainy days, they were able to give us a hallway, dividing a bedroom with an awkward Den on it into two separate bedrooms. As well as removing a load bearing wall and studding out a new wall in our future kitchen.

I know that we would've saved a lot more money trying to do it ourselves, but now watching the knowledge they were able to provide throughout, I don't think Rob and I would even know where to start. It was the most money we've ever spent for construction work, but now that it is done, the relief of not having to do it was well worth it.

DIYing it's such an amazing opportunity to get your dream home for a fraction of the price of hiring out. But, Rob and I really believe there is a time and place for it. Knowledge and code is so important for safety and for resale. Now that everything is ready for Rob and I to tackle, trust me when I say our jobs are about to begin.