The risks of designing your home yourself

How hard can it be to choose a paint colour? It seems easy to pick a colour, until you see the hundreds of colours available. There are literally fifty shades of white and fifty shades of grey! Then you select your colour from a piece of paper, purchase the paint, put it on the walls and it looks totally different from the colour you selected. That’s because paint can look entirely different with different lighting conditions, and even by what it’s paired with – like the colour of carpets, furniture and fittings.
Then we haven’t even mentioned the family arguments, with everyone picking a different shade of white. So employing an interior designer, or a colour specialist, to provide advice on paint colours can be money well spent, although it’s obviously not a necessity. Fortunately many paint suppliers can provide this expert at no cost, providing you use their products.

But some attempt more extensive renovations and construction work themselves without a proper design. This comes with some risk.

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What are the risks of designing your home?

There are a number of risks of designing your home without professional help. This includes:​​

• The design could be structurally unsound, possibly not taking the type of ground conditions into account. This could lead to cracking. Second floor slabs could sag, resulting in unsightly cracks and damages and uneven floor finishes.
• Poor designs can lead to poor layouts, which could include, the inefficient use of space, poor ergonomics, doors not being able to open (there have been many instances when doors to toilets couldn’t open because they clashed with the toilet, or there wasn’t space for the person opening the door to step out of the way), doors clashing and light switches being in the wrong place.
• The design could be unsafe, for example, steps could be of the wrong size, handrails could be insufficient or weak, structural elements could fail.
• Poorly designed buildings could result in problems, such as, leaking roofs, rising damp, leaky windows, poor lighting and blocked pipes.
• Poor designs can detract from the use and enjoyment of the house, even lessening the value of the house.
• Poor designs might result in extra construction costs which could be caused by:
  • The inefficient use of materials.
  • More costly construction costs.
  • Redoing work because of design mistakes.
  • Poor coordination of services and utilities in the house which could result in clashes and items not fitting, resulting in extra costs to make the necessary changes so everything fits.
• A lack of a unified architectural style and theme, resulting in a patchwork of disjointed elements that don’t relate to each other.
• Problems with designs and drawings could delay permit applications.
• The work may not satisfy the building codes and specifications. This could mean that it has to be rectified, even demolished. Buildings that don’t meet codes won’t be able to be sold. It could even result in insurance policies being voided.Sometimes the authorities and lenders will insist that the house, or elements of the house, are designed by a registered designer.
• Poor design detailing may make the building look unfinished or a mismatch of patches.
  

Conclusion - saving money may make your new home more expensive

Designers do cost money and we're all out trying to save money. But spending money on employing the right professionals will save you money. Importantly they will often guide you in the right direction - helping to crystallise your ideas onto paper. They will help prevent those family arguments over colours and finishes. They should simplify your choices.
Proper design drawings are often a prerequisite for obtaining building approvals. Poor drawings could delay the process, even leading to the rejection of permit applications.
See my article on Selecting a designer for more useful information. 

​For more valuable home design and renovation tips and advice read: 'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses - Volume 1 Hiring Contractors, Managing Construction and Finishing Your Home' and 'Volume 2 Finding Your Ideal Property and Designing Your Dream Home'

​This is an extract from: 'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses Volume 2' by Paul Netscher. Available in paper or eBook from Amazon.com, Amazon UK, Amazon CA, Amazon AU and all online bookstores. To read more

​© 2019 This article is not to be reproduced for commercial purposes without written permission from the author.

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