How To Plan Your project

The moment I finish a project and step back to look at fruits of my labor is a deeply fulfilling. I’m full of pride, take a deep breath, roll my shoulders back, and think “Wow I did that”. I reflect on the hours and days working, the sweat, and yes sometimes blood that led to another successful DIY project.

BUT..

A successful DIY project starts well before the first nail is struck. It starts with planning.

Planning is the most important step to make your DIY project go smoothly and achieve what you envisioned. This is where you create your design, determine the materials and tools required, the budget, and time needed to complete the project. Doing this well will save you time, effort, and frustration, and most importantly it will make your projects better.

I recommend using my DIY Project Planning Cheat Sheet as a tool to help you along the way. If you don’t already have it download it here.

Where do I start?

Here’s the thing, the first step to plan a DIY project you do without realizing it. Identifying a project you want to do. It happens when you see something in your home that needs fixed, want to change, or add on. Your project can be as simple as installing new light fixtures, replacing old deck boards, or remodeling a bathroom. It all starts with you seeing something you want to do.

Create your Vision.

You’ve identified the project, now you need to come up with your vision for the project. Let your imagination run wild here. Ask yourself what it will look like, what will it do, and what is the style? Write it down and draw a sketch. It can be as detailed as you want. You’ve just created your vision.

Make your Design.

Now it’s time to take your vision and translate it into a detailed and realistic design. Take your sketch and add detail to it. Define the dimensions, determine what materials you’ll use, and consider any engineering challenges you’ll have to address. Once you’ve done this it’s time to create your initial list of materials and tools you’ll need.

During this step, as much as I hate to say it, you also have to think about your budget. I can design some pretty amazing projects if I’m not worried about a budget, but the majority of us do have to worry about that. I suggest you choose an amount you feel comfortable spending on the project, then once you’ve completed your detailed design and researched the price of the necessary materials you’ll know if your budget is realistic or not.

This is also the time to determine what tools you’ll need for the project. Do you already have all the tools you’ll need? If not, you’ll need to decide if you need to buy them, borrow them, or rent them.

Buying or renting tools is adds an additional cost to your project, and unless you have a friend like me who has a slight tool addiction, you’ll probably have to determine which option is better for you. As a general rule before I buy a tool, I ask myself if I will use it for future projects, will the cost of renting the tool for several days be more or less than buying, or will I have some “splainin” to do if I buy it.. Haha! No matter what you decide make sure you’ve taken the time to identify all the tools you’ll need to help cut down on time spent running to the store when you’re working on your project.

Once you’ve done a thorough job fleshing out your design and determined everything you need for the project, you’re ready to move on to the next step.

Create your Timeline

Coming up with the timeline for your project is pretty simple but is also vital to synchronizing the events that need to take place during your project. What are the individual steps that need to take place and when in the timeline? Are there things can’t happen until something else is done? Will certain tasks be easier to do before or after others? Use this as your opportunity to figure out the most sequence of events for your project, it will make it go smoother.

First thing you need to determine is how long will the project take. Will it only take a few hours, or will it take several days? Are there events that require you to halt working until something else is ready or set (i.e., mortar or concrete setting)?

Be realistic when you make this estimate. Consider your skill level, the level of effort required, and how hard you want to work each day. Trust me, you don’t want to come up an overly aggressive schedule and burn yourself out, like THIS GUY has a tendency to do. I’ll never forget planned to completely redo not one, but two bathrooms in my home over a four-day weekend. I stayed on my timeline, and the bathrooms turned out great. When it was done though, I was ready to go back to work that next week so I could rest. Haha!

When creating your schedule define what tasks for each day and what is the end state. Pay close attention to tasks that are required for work to continue the next day when defining your daily end state. My technique is to plan for events that require for work to halt for my daily end state. For example, if part of a project involves laying tile, I will plan to lay tile as the last event for that day and let the mortar set overnight. This allows me to immediately get to work in that space the next day and maximize the working time available.

Congratulations, you’ve created your timeline and are ready to get going!

What’s Next?

You’ve gotten through the toughest part of any DIY project, planning it. You know what materials and tools you need, and how you’re going to do it. So now you just need to do is get everything you need and get to work. Make your vision a reality, and don’t forget to take a step back when you’re all done and be proud of what you created.

I’ll look forward to hearing and seeing how it turned out.

Happy Building!