Doing What I Can by Myself
Once I decided to build a garage shed, the next reality I had to face was how to keep the costs under control.
It would make no sense to pour the entire budget into creating a space for the Seven and end up with nothing left for the car itself.
So the policy naturally became: do whatever I can by myself.
● Designing It Myself
This was my first time drawing up the plans entirely on my own—from start to finish—and even handling the application process.
The CAD software I used at work was far too expensive to license personally.
So I turned to JWCAD, a free alternative.
It’s free, but definitely not easy to operate.
I learned how to move even a single line by watching YouTube tutorials, slowly building up the drawings piece by piece.
It felt like returning to the “design floor” after a long time—nostalgic and refreshing at the same time.
But there are limits to DIY.
No matter how strong your DIY spirit is, there are walls you simply can’t climb over.
Unless you’re a licensed architect, you ultimately need a builder’s designer to compile the official application documents.
That’s an unavoidable cost.
For a project of this scale, structural calculations aren’t required.
Still, I’m not a structural engineer, and I needed to specify column and beam sizes, metal connectors, and so on for the builder.
Safety comes first.
So I outsourced the structural design to a professional.
I’ll write about that part another time.
● Reducing Costs Through Separate Contracting
At first, I seriously considered doing everything myself—
the foundation, the slab, the posts, the beams, all of it.
I researched everything:
heavy machinery rentals, trucks, waste disposal companies, ready-mix concrete plants…
The more I looked into it, the more I felt:
“Maybe I really could do this.”
But I stopped.
If I tried to do all of that,
I would end up completely burned out.
I’d never make it to the Seven.
So I asked the builder to handle the following:
in other words, the things I couldn’t do, mustn’t fail at, or would be way too hard.
- Concrete slab
- Electrical work (requires a license)
And here’s what I decided to DIY:
- Roof sheet metal
- Shutter
- Entrance door
- Exterior finish
- Interior finish
- Fence installation (I asked them to do the fence foundation)
Dividing the project into “what I can do myself” and “what I have no choice but to outsource”
became one of the major principles of this project.
Since I didn’t ask the builder for a full turnkey contract,
I naturally don’t expect any warranty.
I take responsibility for both the design and the construction supervision.
The builder agreed to the contract on that premise. (That’s why it worked.)
I’d like to write about my exchanges with the builder—especially the passionate shop manager—another time.
■ Summary: DIY Wasn’t About Saving Money—It Was About Making Choices
Do what you can yourself.
Don’t push yourself where you shouldn’t.
That boundary-setting was crucial in building this garage shed.
Next time, I’ll write about:
③ How I ensured the Seven could enter and exit on an extremely narrow plot.
