4 - DIY vs. Professional

Plumbing, drywall, landscaping — it doesn't sound glamorous, but every bit of it is getting us closer to the mountain home we envision for hosting retreats.

I have quoted my family before by sharing their motto “you can’t mess something up so badly you can’t hire a professional to fix it”.  So far, Mark and I have been doing all of the work.  Most recently I have been framing, and he has installed windows and insulation.  This is certainly a cost savings, and really fun for us, however, we knew from the beginning that when it comes to hanging, mudding, and taping drywall, that is not our forte.  As I shared in the last blog, we hired someone to take on our drywalling.  So, it has been great to have three of us on the worksite getting things done!  Another set of hands and skills certainly has helped speed things up.  This next photo is the garage getting drywalled and moving closer to someday serving as the creative art/movement studio.

Even though I did the original plumbing for the home, I have not done anything like that in the last (almost) thirty years. Plenty of time to forget anything I thought I knew or tricks I had learned.  I was intimidated and tempted to hire a professional to take on finishing the plumbing for the retreat leader’s ensuite bathroom.  It was funny to watch myself procrastinate, stress, excessively read articles on plumbing, and do every other project I could come up with in the vicinity of the retreat leader’s bathroom.  Then, I finally pushed through the discomfort and began putting together the puzzle of hot water pipes and cold-water pipes to the shower, toilet, and sink.  I do like a good puzzle.

I was debating using the new industry standard of PEX pipes and fixtures, but in the end, what gave me confidence was that I chose to go with what I knew, CPVC.  The photo at the top of this blog was taken right after we did the pressure test and all my joints held.  Feel free to take a few extra seconds to look at the photo again, that plumbing is a thing of beauty if I do say so myself.  For clarity, the white CPVC pipes are the new ones, the black ABS pipes for draining and venting I did back in the late 90s. 

Here is that joyous photo again from when I originally passed my plumbing inspection. 

A friend recently said to me, “I didn’t know you were this ‘build-y’!”  Teehee, it is fun to be stretching old muscles.

We did have one more professional we hired to do some landscaping.  We had them turn the front lawn into a gathering space and spruced up the entry walk and rock beds.  Having an additional gathering space outdoors is such an asset, and we love how everything is looking. 

A final note. One of the workers asked me the other day “Hey, as a married couple building a house, aren’t you guys supposed to be fighting?”  We appreciated the compliment.  This kind of work isn’t without stress and challenging conversations, but truly in the end, Mark and I are enjoying this process immeasurably.

For now, we'll keep making space, one layer at a time, for what's next.

We're so glad you're here.