Garage Conversion DIY - should you attempt your own?

The DIY market within the home improvement arena is up and down like fiddlers elbow. As more and more young families come onto the housing improvement scene it seems that less and less of them are of the more ‘practical persuasion‘. They all seem to be good at pushing a computer mouse but no so adept as pushing a saw.

So, if the homeowner does possess the ambition and craft skills to take on such a scheme for a DIY garage conversion should they be encouraged to do so?

I can only go by past experiences when I have been involved in the design process of extending houses when my measured site survey reveals a previous poor quality room that is in need of repair, improvement or complete demolition. These rooms within existing houses have predominantly been DIY garage conversions where little attention has been taken on the construction detailing and the works have every shortcut in the book that most DIY’ers seem to find.

I have not come across one DIY garage conversion in over 30 years where I could say ‘hand on heart’ that this is a good quality conversion worthy of retention. Most of the DIY garage conversions are usually illegal and have served just one narrow use for the previous homeowner (utilities are a great example).

So do I need to spell I out to the Mr. And Mrs. Fixits out there?