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5 Reasons to Hire a Cabinet Pro Instead of DIY

It’s often tempting to take on DIY projects. After all, why pay a professional if you can do the work yourself? When it comes to installing or refinishing cabinets, however, you may want to think twice about tackling the project on your own. Here are five reasons to hire a cabinet pro instead of DIY.

1. Cabinet Work May Be More Complex Than You Think

Installing or refinishing your cabinets probably sounds easy. However, cabinet work may be more complex than you think. For example, painting or staining your cabinets may sound simple, but if you don’t know how to work with natural woodgrain, you may not like the results.

Additionally, it’s incredibly easy to make mistakes when building or installing cabinets yourself. It’s often more difficult than it seems to get cabinets perfectly level. And if your measurements are even slightly off, your cabinets won’t fit the way they should. Plus, large projects may require moving plumbing or electrical wires. That’s why it’s best to hire a cabinet pro instead of DIY, especially for complex jobs.

2. DIY Cabinet Projects Aren’t Always Less Expensive

One of the main reasons people take on DIY cabinet projects is to save money. However, homeowners often fail to consider the full cost of DIY projects. For instance, do you have all the necessary tools to complete the work? If not, purchasing or renting tools adds a significant amount to your project’s price tag.

Similarly, just getting your cabinets or materials to your home is often expensive if you don’t own your own truck. Delivery and rental fees add up. Plus, there’s always the possibility that something goes wrong during your project that requires a professional to fix. As a result, it’s often better to hire a pro in the first place.

3. Your Project Could Be Dangerous

While a DIY cabinet project might not sound particularly hazardous, it could be more dangerous than you think. In fact, falls from ladders are one of the most common accidents that send people to the emergency room. And that’s particularly relevant if you’re installing cabinets near the ceiling.

But falls aren’t the only thing you need to worry about. Working on cabinets often involves working near electrical wires or even needing to move or install new electrical outlets. That’s always hazardous if you’re not a pro. Plus, even the dust and fumes generated when working on cabinets may be dangerous if you don’t have the proper protective equipment.

4. Time Is Valuable

Have you ever gotten into a home repair and then realized it was going to be way more work than you first anticipated? That’s a common problem for DIY projects, including cabinets. So one question you need to ask yourself is, how valuable is your time?

If you can’t afford to take off work to finish your project or live without the use of your kitchen until your cabinets are complete, hiring a pro is a better option. Your time is valuable, and sometimes, it just makes more sense to have a pro do the work.

5. You Want Professional Results

If you’ve never worked on cabinets before, they may seem like one of the easiest DIY projects to try. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. There’s a lot to learn about different wood species, stains, paints, finishes, etc. And if you don’t have that knowledge, you may be disappointed in the results.

As you know, cabinets play a huge role in the overall appearance of your kitchen. Beautiful cabinets give your entire kitchen a facelift, but messy paint jobs, crooked doors, and imperfections have the opposite effect. In reality, it’s all too easy to make mistakes with your cabinets. So if you want professional results, it’s best to hire a pro to do the work.

Edgewood Cabinetry offers a variety of cabinets and cabinet services to suit your needs. If you are ready to begin your next project or would like more information about the services we provide, contact us for a free quote. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

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Edgewood Cabinetry remodel

Tips for Staying on Budget During Your Remodel

If you are planning to remodel your house for future resale or to upgrade the home to improve aesthetics, increase functionality and efficiency, careful planning, and budgeting is essential. Budgeting assists with decision-making to accomplish desired goals with money to spare. Failure to do so can result in doing more harm than good to your house or, worse, empty your wallet.

Planning and budgeting for any remodeling project must go hand in hand. During the planning stage, you first need to figure out which portion of the house requires remodeling to improve convenience and functionality. Your wants and luxury preferences should be considered last.

Once you have decided what the remodeling project will entail, budgeting is the next task. The purpose of budgeting is to have an overview of how much money is needed to accomplish the project. There are numerous factors required to be considered to come up with a precise budget. A miscalculation in this part can result in unexpected costs. Here are some tips on how to budget:

Create A Rough Estimate Of The Overall Costs

The first thing you need to do is estimate both material and labor costs. Doing this gives you a bird’s eye view of the scale of expenses you will carry. This calculation will be your ceiling and reference in evaluating bids from your contractors.

Selecting a Contractor

You must have at least three contractors included in the bidding process; otherwise, you are left with no other choice if you cannot agree on terms with one contractor. More contractors in the bidding process give you the bargaining power to lower the bid cost further due to competition.

Factors that you must consider in shortlisting your contractor include low unit rates, completed projects, technical expertise, client customer care, and available workforce. If these factors are met, you are now ready to sign the contract.

Search For Materials At A Bargain Price

As a homeowner, one angle you can take in staying on budget is having the materials “Owner-Supplied”. Consequently, this allows you to control material prices completely. Doing this gives you more leeway in saving money in the form of less material costs. However, you need to guarantee that you can find materials at a bargained price. You can look for salvage yards, second-hand stores, or ordering in “bulk” with suppliers who can give you discounts.

Do It Yourself

While there are remodel projects only suitable for professionals, there are other tasks ideal for homeowners with moderate DIY skills. The only downside of this is the risk of producing an unsatisfactory result, which can incur additional costs on rectification. But if you do well, you can save significant savings in the form of decreased labor costs. Therefore, if you are confident about your DIY skills, then this is something worth considering. Here are some projects suitable for moderate DIY skills: painting walls, installation of wallpaper, light demolition, or wall finishing.

Wait For Sales Before Making Significant Purchases

If you are supplying the materials to your contractor, you can make significant savings by making big purchases only if there are big sales available. You can wait for American holidays for appliances, Black Friday for electronics, and every summer for furniture. Having the discipline to wait on big purchases can help you save significant savings.

Stick To The Approved Contract

The approved contract must be strictly followed to the letter to stay on budget. The ambiguity of some items must be cleared to prevent unexpected problems that may arise due to confusion. And as much as possible, avoid design changes once the contract is awarded to ensure ease of execution and preventing other mundane tasks such as revising the contract, formulating a new work execution plan, or allocating additional manpower, which can incur additional costs. If you do make changes, make sure those changes are reflected in the written contract signed by both you and the contractor. Verbal changes will not hold up legally if it comes to that.

For excellent, high-quality custom cabinetry for your remodel contact Edgewood Cabinetry.  Call 919-339-7300 for more information.

 

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5 Major Kitchen Remodel Mistakes to Avoid

One of the biggest concerns people experience when having their kitchen remodeled is that the project will get bogged down in mistakes.  Fortunately, many errors are preventable, as long as you know about them in advance and can give them proper consideration.  The following are five major kitchen remodel mistakes to avoid.
1) Losing sight of the bigger picture
People sometimes focus on changing one part of their kitchen, such as the cabinetry or the material of the floor or countertops, without considering how those changes will fit with how they use their kitchen and affect its overall style.  Some materials or colors wouldn’t look good together.  Other changes will make the kitchen look smaller or cost you space.  Even if your renovation seems relatively minor, you need to always consider how it will affect the kitchen as a whole.
2) Leaving all the decisions to contractors and other professionals
When people don’t carefully think through what they need and make their needs clear to the professionals they work with, they’re often stuck with a kitchen they didn’t envision and don’t feel comfortable with.  Professionals can always give you feedback about your ideas and of course help you implement them, but they shouldn’t be dictating the project.
3) Cutting corners
People understandably want to save money on renovations, so they sometimes go for cheaper materials or hire professionals who aren’t reputable.  In the short term, this might save some money.  But ultimately they get stuck paying more down the road as their kitchen starts to fall apart from the shoddy renovation work and low-quality materials.
4) Getting carried away
Make sure not to ‘over-design’ your kitchen.  Sometimes people start renovations and don’t know when to stop.  There’s always some light fixture or appliance they feel like they need to update or some extra scrollwork they’re desperate to add to their cabinet doors, and ultimately their kitchen winds up looking like someone fussed with it too much.  Plus, they spend more money than they need to and can’t even relax and enjoy the beautiful kitchen they have.
5) Making unnecessary major changes
If you feel like you need more space in your kitchen, your first solution shouldn’t be to tear down walls or move around your sink or other major appliances. This will lead to a much more costly renovation. First, always consider whether there are less complicated solutions you could implement to get similar results.  Even in smaller kitchens, there are ways to make much more efficient use of the space, giving you more room to move around and making the room lighter and more airy.
If you’re considering a kitchen renovation, contact us. An important part of the kitchen, in terms of both its space and appearance, are the high quality cabinets you choose.  We’ll also be able to give you general advice about your renovation and help you design a kitchen that you’ll love.

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