Calculator · Other decisions
The answer
DIY is only free if your time is worth nothing and the result is right first time. Count your hours (learning included), materials and tools, and the risk of having it redone: if the total gets close to the quote, hire. And if the job is regulated, dangerous or costly to get wrong, hire whatever it costs — or at least for the critical part.
Updated · Market Switzerland
This analysis is available in French and English.
A job needs doing — painting, assembling, bookkeeping, building a website — and you wonder whether to save the quote by doing it yourself.
The comparison
Ratings from 0 to 4, from the point of view of someone in your situation — higher is better. The reasoning behind each rating is in the analysis.
| Criterion | Postpone | DIY | Mix | Professional |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost in moneyWhat you pay: quote, materials, tools. | ||||
| Your timeThe hours you spend, learning included. | ||||
| Quality of the resultThe expected standard and the chance of redoing it. | ||||
| RiskSafety, liability, rules to follow. | ||||
| LearningWhat you learn and can do again. | ||||
| Lead timeWhen the job will be finished. |
Postpone the job, shrink its scope or drop it.
For
Against
Learn what is needed, buy the materials and do the job.
For
Against
Hand the difficult, risky or regulated part to a professional, do the rest yourself.
For
Against
Ask for quotes and hand over the whole job.
For
Against
The analysis
DIY always looks cheaper because we count materials and not hours. Give your time a value — what you earn per hour, or what a Saturday is worth to you — and multiply by the real hours, including time to learn, to buy materials and to tidy up.
The calculator’s defaults (CHF 40 an hour, 12 hours of work plus 4 of learning) are editorial assumptions for illustration. Your own estimate matters more than ours.
A botched job is paid twice: the time lost, then the professional who fixes it — often dearer than a job done right from the start. The calculator includes it as a probability times the cost of a redo: a 20% risk on a CHF 600 redo adds CHF 120 to the cost of DIY.
Estimate that risk honestly: low for a job you have done before, high for a first attempt at something demanding.
Some work is regulated or needs a permit, a qualification or an inspection — depending on the trade, the canton or your sector. This page does not list those rules: we have not verified them. Before doing installation, construction or official accounting work yourself, check whether it is regulated with the relevant authority or trade body.
If it is, the question becomes: which part can I do myself, and which must be done or checked by a professional? That is the “mix” option.
Your recommendation
Five questions are enough; one more refines it. Every rule applied is shown under the result.
Recommendation
Answer 4 more key questions: without them, a recommendation would be a guess.
Missing
Decision rules v1.0.0
The costs
Every value is an editorial assumption: replace them with your hours, prices and quotes.
Total
Cheapest Mix
DIY
Mix
Professional
What this calculation shows
What it does not prove
A website for a hobby
Nothing regulated, some basics, little at stake, free time, a wish to learn.
Do it yourself. The risk is low and learning is part of the fun.
Why →Regulated work
The job needs a qualification, the stakes are high, it must be done.
Hire a professional. DIY is ruled out.
Why →A small business’s bookkeeping
Unsure of the rules, no experience, no time, costly mistakes.
Hire. Still check what is required for your type of business.
Why →Repainting a flat
Nothing regulated, some experience, medium stakes, some time, cost first.
A tie between DIY, the mix and the professional: no rule settles it, the calculation of your time and the quote decides.
Why →What we do not know
The most uncertain part: your real hours and your risk of getting it wrong. We almost always underestimate both; add a margin.
Add your hours (learning included) times the value of your time, materials and tools, and the risk of having it redone. Compare that total with the quote.
What you earn per hour if you could work instead, otherwise what an hour of free time is worth to you. There is no universal right answer.
No: some work is regulated or needs a permit. This page does not list it; check with the relevant authority or trade body.
No external fact on this page: every amount is an assumption you replace with your own figures.
No vendor mentioned pays to appear here, and no link on this page is an affiliate link. What Bynilson sells is labelled as such and plays no part in the recommendation rules.
Research and writing assisted by AI tools; every fact was read on its source on the date shown, and the decision rules are written and tested by hand.
Useful steps whatever you decide.