How a licensed tradie can turn those home improvement projects from ‘to do’ to ‘done’

Those pesky household jobs really have a way of piling up. You know the ones; tasks you’re pretty sure you have the skills to complete, but… do they have to be done today?

By the time you get to the weekend, the couch can seem more appealing than the toolbox. While it’s easy to keep thinking that you’ll get to them eventually, getting a professional onto those jobs can prove to be more cost (and time) effective in the long run.

Advantages of using a tradie for odd jobs 

Professionals usually have a distraction and procrastination-free environment

Despite our best intentions, a lot of household jobs never get finished. Even the most enthusiastic DIYers can waste more time preparing to complete a job than actually doing it. Between weeks of procrastination, aimless wandering through hardware stores (and getting tempted by a sausage sizzle), and shepherding kids around to find what you’re looking for, that precious weekend time slips away quickly.

Professionals, on the other hand, do this as their day job. Not only do they already have the tools they need (or can easily stock up on whatever they’re missing), they’re more motivated to get the job done for you by a certain deadline.

Experts know the tools

Heading to the local hardware store may initially seem like the quicker and easier option. There’s no need to wait for a tradie to return quotes, and the store should have everything you need, right? But when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, hardware stores can quickly turn into a time and money vortex.

It can be hard to know exactly what you need to best complete a job. Without prior experience, you can end up standing in a shop aisle frantically Googling the difference between two almost-identical tools. Hiring a tradie who knows what tools they need (and probably already has them on hand) can help you avoid this stress altogether.

Risks can be minimised

While there are a lot of jobs you can do yourself, some things require professional training and experience. Teaching yourself new skills can be rewarding, but diving headfirst into something you’ve never attempted before can also be very risky.

Some tasks carry a lot of assumed knowledge and risk, while others should only be attempted by professionals for health, safety and legal reasons. There are lots of jobs that shouldn’t be done a DIYer, including:

• Plumbing
• Electrical
• Gas
• Air conditioning
• Structural building work.

For any job involving these specialised skills, you’re legally required to hire a professional and licensed tradie.

Licensed tradies are insured

Another great advantage to using a licensed tradie is that they’re generally required to have liability insurance. This means that if your property is damaged, or they’re injured on the job due to their own negligence, their insurance may cover any resulting costs.

If you’re going to hire someone to do the job, make sure you check their licence first. Hiring someone without one isn’t worth the risk.

The job will be right, first time  

We’ve all seen pictures and videos of home improvement attempts gone horribly wrong. Australian homeowners have reported the average cost of fixing or re-doing a failed DIY job at $1,500*. This means an estimated $3.53 billion is wasted on DIY failures every year!

While there are many benefits to hiring a tradie to do the work, this may be the most convincing – hiring a professional means the job is more likely to be done right, the first time around. Hiring a tradie also means you’re more likely to be aware of costings from the start. This means no more emergency trips to the hardware store to cover up your costly mistakes that could have been easily avoided.

Explore Suncorp Home & Contents Insurance

Read more:

• What a handyman can do for you
• When do I need an electrician?
• What tradies will you need for your kitchen or bathroom renovation

*Source: Hipages

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