Beware of the Do-It-Yourselfer

Question:
I have a potential client who is asking me why he should spend thousands of dollars on a concrete countertop made by me when he could do it himself. What do I tell him?

Answer:
First, find out why he’s objecting to hiring a professional for this project. Some people are die-hard do-it-yourselfers and you’re not going to convince them to spend money rather than time. If this potential client is the type of person who would spend an entire summer painting his own house because he’s too cheap to pay someone to do it, or who would make his own shed because he thinks he’s really handy and doesn’t care that it turns out crooked, you are probably not going to convince him to hire a professional.

However, if he’s not really this type of person, and he’s just seen literature proclaiming that concrete countertops are a fun and easy weekend project, you can dispel this notion. Explain that while it’s possible for him to make his own concrete countertop, the results will not be the same as a countertop you make. Explain the process and all of the specialized equipment you use. This should scare him away from the idea. You can also show him an article I wrote about this subject on the Concrete Connections website: “Making Concrete Countertops is Not Simple.”

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with homeowners making their own concrete countertops or building their own cabinets or even building an entire house if they want to, but they need to understand what’s really involved and the results they can expect versus hiring a professional. And you need to be able to quickly identify the die-hard do-it-yourselfer and not waste your time on him.