Title: 
The Rising Trend of Do-It-Yourself

Word Count:
624

Summary:
This article summarizes the rising trend in America regarding people becoming "do-it-yourselfers" when it comes to improving or completing projects in their own homes. While contractors are still being hired, many people have decided to tackle their own minor repair tasks.


Keywords:
do-it-yourself, diy,d-i-y,home improvement, acoustic ceilings


Article Body:
Within the last few years, America has become a do-it-yourself type of country. From television to books to magazines, the people in the U.S. have decided to help themselves with the projects that need to be done at home instead of hiring someone to do it for them. The reasons for becoming a "do-it-yourselfer" are many and people have found that DIY is the answer to many issues. Taking on a project at home yourself can be very advantageous. Many people do DIY to save money by tackling household projects. Some "do-it yourselfers" are such because it helps them to be able to flip houses, a popular way to make money, without hiring a contractor. Others are "do-it-yourselfers" in order to make money as a handyman, doing projects for people who can’t do it on their own. One more reason "diyers" do what they do is to improve the value of their own homes.

Some people are "do-it-yourselfers" because it saves them a great deal of money. Generally, contractors can be expensive when fixing something that you, for the price of materials, could accomplish. Paying someone materials plus labor tends to put a giant whole in one’s check book. By doing small projects around your house as things need doing, two things can occur. One, you can put away the money you might spend needlessly on professionals and save it for something that you really need or want. The money can even go toward making upgrades to your house that you would not be able to afford otherwise. For example, a "do-it-yourselfer" can install a tile floor for the cost of having a professional install a vinyl floor. This would be an upgrade. Two, if you learn to do something on your own, the knowledge will most likely come in handy again if the problem arises at another time in the future.

Another reason "do-it-yourself" has become popular over time is because of the popular rise of people flipping houses. With the recently strong real estate market, many people have picked up the task of buying houses that need fixing up, fixing them, and selling them for a sizeable profit. A way that doing projects themselves comes in is that people can save money so that their profit margin is much larger. Using a contractor on only large jobs that are dangerous or require training to execute is a smart way to make money and in many cases, helps the flipper to take more pride in a project.

Sometimes, a person’s reason for becoming a "do-it-yourselfer" is to make money being a handyman and helping someone else. Many times, people can not afford to hire a professional contractor and can not do the work themselves. In this case, they will call a handyman to be able to do what ever work is needed around the house. Many people make good money off of being the local neighborhood handyman. When work is done to a satisfactory degree, word of mouth will generally fill up the calendar of the handyman who has done the work.

One more advantage to becoming a person with "DIY" experience is the fact that tackling projects at home can definitely add value to your house and property. Texturing the rooms in your house or removing dated popcorn ceilings, for example can drastically change the look and value of your house, no matter how old it is.

Whatever the reason for the changing wave of "DIY", it has definitely become a trend. Stores like Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Ace Hardware have seen a marked rise in customers coming in to take on bigger and more difficult projects. Whatever the motivation, "DIY" is very advantageous in many ways.