Estimating .

It is imperative that a “Do it yourselfer” learns how to estimate. All the essentials to Estimating will not be covered in this blog, as a lot of it is based on the individual’s experience.  However, I am going to provide you with a few good tips on how to approach estimates that are only applicable to the “do it yourselfer.”

Estimation begins with good planning - It impossible to accurately cater to your DIY project if you have not sat down and planned the scope of work in which you intend to achieve. Setting one’s focus on the target or goal to be accomplished, will force the “Do it youselfer” to examine all the materials, tools and how they would go about accomplishing the task at hand. For the beginner, they should write down exactly how they plan to approach the work on a piece of paper. Through this, a clear sense of purpose is highlighted and as a result, a plan of action is developed.

Calculating material quantity – once you have identified the planned processes, you have to calculate the quantity of materials needed to complete the project. This in turn is done easily as you have visibly detailed the scope planed on paper. With the plan on paper, you are able to calculate the cost of material to perform the task.

Material Costing - this would be the dreaded phase of any Do it yourselfer. Cost materials, means that one would have to shop around and enquire information from multiple suppliers in order to retrieve information. However, once the information is retrieved, this can form part of a database that you can reference to in the future.

Calculate Time – time taken to complete the project is the most crucial task. The individual has to set goals and challenge themselves continuously. This strengthens one’s resolve and their persistence towards their projects. In addition to that, the calculation of time may highlight to the individual that they may need to hire an extra hand which in itself would increase the cost of executing said project.