The other night I was watching a renovation realities show where a homeowner with absolutely no skill level and no power tools decided to turn his garage into a “man cave.” He enlisted a soon to be former friend and borrowed power tools and limited expertise from his cousin.

The show turned out to be a comedy routine equal to any of the “oldie but goodie” Laurel & Hardy shows.  The homeowner was entirely clueless, demanding of his friend, and totally inept. There was no plan and no research done on how to insulate walls, to install a window, and hang and finish drywall.

This person installed insulation batting using blue painters’ masking tape stretched from stud to stud to hold up the batting;  they didn’t staple a single staple into any of the strips. They then started hanging drywall with the least number of screws I have ever seen; completely ignoring the top of each sheet because they couldn’t reach it from the ground.  They even wiggled the panel with the top flapping slightly and decided that it was up there “pretty good.”  When they got to a spot where they needed to cut the drywall to fit, they called the homeowner’s cousin to ask him if he had a saw, “one with one of the circular things that went around” to cut the drywall. Luckily for the homeowner, the cousin came with the saw but told him he didn’t need it to cut the drywall. He showed him how to score and snap the drywall instead.

Then the homeowner, the friend and the cousin marked the hole for the window by holding the window up on the exterior wall and having someone eyeball where it should go. There wasn’t a level or square on the premises. They started to install the window without framing it in, but luckily again, the cousin came back and told him it had to be framed.

All during the show there was a voice over that pointed out where they were going wrong and the fact that they could have gone to the show’s sponsoring home improvement center for instruction.

By the end of the show, the homeowner had a disgusted cousin, a friend who felt taken advantage of, and a remodeling job that would never pass a home inspection.

I laughed throughout the half hour show, but the sad fact is that I have sold several houses to people with owner financing, only to get the houses back after they had tried similar home renovation projects. None of these projects were authorized by me as required in our financing contract. Needless to say, it cost me a lot to redo their renovations.

So, the moral of this story is to learn from others’ mistakes. Get professional help if you do not have the knowledge or skill level to do a major renovation yourself. Develop your skill level by attending free seminars at your local home improvement stores and practice what you learn. Start with small projects, ask for advice from someone that is qualified, and do your research first before you make costly errors. I would even advise that you hire an experienced person to work with you.

I still stand by my premise that you can do it – just take the time to learn how to use tools properly and develop your skill level. Never tackle a project without becoming familiar with what the job entails and evaluating the feasibility of taking it on. As I have said, I am fearless when it comes to renovation, but I have developed my skills -- I have the tools and know how to use them, and I know how to evaluate the project, do the research, and prepare and stick to the budget.