8 Jobs to Leave to the Professionals

This is something that you really shouldn’t mess with – unless you want to make your hair stand on end! The potential for disaster is enormous, so just don’t risk it. An amateur electrician could not only hurt or even kill themselves, but also cause a fire.

Again, this is something that could be potentially dangerous. It’s one thing doing small maintenance jobs like topping up the oil, but anything mechanical should be left well alone unless you know what you’re doing. You really don’t want the car to go wrong when you’re driving it …

Do you want to blow your house up? I didn’t think so! As with the electrics, a gas supply or appliance is something that should be left well alone. People train to deal with these things, so let them do their job. It’s one of those things that is not worth attempting to economise.

Oh dear. Why do so many people fancy themselves as architects and builders when they have neither theoretical nor practical knowledge of the subject? Here’s another disaster waiting to happen. Yet the newspapers are full of stories of people building illegal extensions that promptly fall down or have to be demolished. This is a subject where trying to save money by doing it yourself could cost a great deal more in the long run.

Aside from the fact that most people don’t have the correct safety equipment for getting up on the roof (and ensuring that they don’t fall off), there’s also the risk of a bodged job if you try to repair a roof yourself. If the repairs are not done properly, you could cause more problems – as well as spend more getting someone else to repair your mistake.

Another DIY effort to be very, very wary of. If you want to knock down a wall in your house, first ensure that it is not a load-bearing wall, or you may find yourself spending a small fortune to stop the rest of your house falling down as well.

For some reason, people resent spending money on having a watertight will drawn up. Well, it’s easy to get the wrong idea about what will happen to your estate when you die, so unless your situation is absolutely straightforward, get a lawyer to draw up a will. I know of so many people who were convinced that a will wasn’t necessary (or worse still, didn’t make one) – and things did not turn out as they expected.

We’re all capable of dealing with simple health problems, but most of us aren’t medically trained. Therefore, be wary of medical advice from people who may have based it on something they read on the internet, and never tell anyone to stop medication, or stop taking it yourself except on the advice of a doctor.

Have you ever made the mistake of doing something yourself instead of employing a professional, and what was the outcome?

Top Photo Credit: smussyolay