by wes

I found myself, not for the first time, standing in the aisle at Bunnings muttering like a lunatic. This was the sixth trip. I was clutching my third type of wall plug, fully convinced this one was the key to hanging the mirror.

It wasn’t.

I managed, instead, to gouge a hole in the plaster big enough to rent out to tenants. And no – I don’t patch walls. But I dohave the audacity to try. I’m that person who will say “I can do that” with unearned confidence about everything from painting over wallpaper to rewiring a light switch.

Of course, it always ends the same way: a tradesperson arrives in a shining ute to save me from myself.

But these are low-stakes misadventures. A wall can be patched, a dodgy paint job fixed. I don’t mind laughing at myself (and paying a bit extra for the fix) when it’s something so easy to correct.

The real problem is when we try the same “DIY” approach in places where the stakes are higher.

Take legal work. I’ve lost count of the times I thought I was a clever armchair lawyer. Inevitably it ends with a midnight ChatGPT session to see if I can undo my own idiocy.

Worse was last year’s tax fiasco. In my infinite wisdom, I decided I knew fringe benefits tax rules better than my accountant. It cost me plenty. The smug satisfaction of “saving a fee” disappeared the second the ATO notice arrived.

There’s a pattern here.

We all do it. We assume because we’re smart or resourceful, we can skip the expert. Sometimes that’s true, but often the cost of the fix is far higher than the cost of getting it done right from the start.

Real estate is no different.

I’ve seen sellers try to save a few thousand by going it alone, only to underprice their property or scare away buyers with bad marketing. I’ve seen buyers refuse to use a conveyancer, only to discover a planning restriction after settlement. Investors who skip property managers to save on fees often call me later for advice on evicting a nightmare tenant.

We want to believe “I can do that.” And sure, we can. But the question is: should we?

When you pay someone who does it every day, you’re not just buying their time. You’re buying their expertise, their experience fixing other people’s mistakes, and their ability to see the problems you don’t even know exist yet.

Sometimes that’s worth every cent.