Do it yourself, or hire a pro?
Real numbers for both.

Hire a pro per 10–30 sq ft patch on drywall (a wall section behind a leak)

DIY $525–$675 Pro $1,500–$3,500

Hire a remediation contractor for a 10–30 sq ft patch in drywall: it can be done at home for about $600 in containment, HEPA and dehumidifier rentals, PPE and rebuild materials against $2,200, but only with real containment, a respirator and the wall open to see how far it goes — and a regular homeowner who finds it's bigger than it looked is now standing in a room full of spores. Above 30 sq ft, in a crawl space or attic, after flooding, or anywhere near the ductwork, the equipment, the clearance test and the paper trail are what you're paying for. Clean up small surface mold yourself — under about 10 sq ft on a hard or painted surface, the EPA's threshold: $70 in detergent, primer and a mask against a $500 minimum call-out.

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Do it yourself per 200 sq ft floor, 12 × 24 porcelain over an uncoupling membrane

DIY $1,480–$1,540 Pro $2,000–$4,500

Tile a floor yourself when it's a room with a sound subfloor and 12 × 24 or smaller tile: a 50 sq ft bathroom floor is about $545 in tile, backer board, mortar, grout, a saw rental and a starter tool kit against $850 from a setter, and a 200 sq ft kitchen floor about $1,510 against $3,000 — a $1,490 saving for 30–45 hours, with the tools left over. Hire for showers, where the waterproofing is the job and a leak costs the wall; for 24 × 48 large-format tile, where the floor has to be flat to a sixteenth and the tiles weigh 40 pounds; for natural stone, mosaics and patterns; and for any floor that isn't flat and stiff, because prep is where a pro earns the rate.

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Do it yourself per 1,500 sq ft house, walls only, two coats

DIY $722–$742 Pro $3,000–$6,000

Paint it yourself when it's walls in a room or two: a 12 × 12 room costs about $272 in paint, prep and a starter kit against $550 for a painter, and the walls of a 1,500 sq ft house run about $732 against $4,200 — a $3,468 saving that pays roughly $70–$115 an hour for 30–50 hours of work, with no permit, no special tools and a mistake you can roll over tomorrow. Hire when the job is the whole interior with ceilings, trim and doors, when there's a two-story stairwell or vaulted ceiling, when the house is pre-1978 and the prep involves sanding, or when you need it done in three days rather than four weekends.

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Hire a pro per 3-bedroom local move (two 16 ft containers, under 50 miles)

DIY $2,080–$2,230 Pro $1,800–$3,500

Hire full-service movers for a local move: the gap is thin — a container is about $2,155 against $2,500 for a 3-bedroom house, and about $1,235 against $1,100 for a 1-bedroom, where movers are actually cheaper — and it costs 20–35 hours of your own loading. Hire them too for heavy or specialty pieces, or when there's nowhere to put a container. A container wins when the distance is long or there's a gap between homes: on a 500-mile 3-bedroom move it's about $4,755 against $6,000, and cross-country about $7,555 against $10,500, with storage built in. The hybrid — a container plus two hired loaders — is the right answer for most of those.

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Hire a pro per inspection of a 1,500–2,500 sq ft house

DIY $157 Pro $300–$500

Hire a licensed inspector for any purchase. The DIY version is cheap — about $157 in testers, a moisture meter, binoculars and a radon kit against $400 for a 1,500–2,500 sq ft house — but the money isn't the point: a licensed report with photos is what lets you renegotiate or walk under the contingency, an inspector knows the panel brands, wiring types and roof layers that cost five figures, and errors-and-omissions insurance stands behind the findings. Do the checklist yourself before you make an offer, before you list, and once a year for maintenance; then walk the house with the pro on inspection day.

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Do it yourself per tub-to-shower conversion (60×32 in alcove, acrylic base and walls)

DIY $2,490–$3,040 Pro $3,500–$7,000

Do an acrylic conversion yourself if you can move a drain, set a valve and follow a kit's instructions: a tub-to-shower conversion is about $2,765 in kit, glass, valve, plumbing and permit against $5,000, a $2,235 saving for 24–40 hours; a kit in an existing stall saves about $605. A tiled shower saves about $5,055 but is a waterproofing job first and a tile job second, for experienced DIYers who'll follow one membrane system to the letter and flood-test it. Hire a contractor for curbless — the floor recess, slope and linear drain are where shower leaks come from.

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Hire a pro per 24-inch stump, ground 6–8 inches below grade, chips left on site

DIY $285 Pro $150–$350

For one stump, hire it: a 24-inch stump is about $285 in a day's grinder rental, safety gear, fuel and topsoil against $240 for a pro who does it in twenty minutes, and a 12-inch stump is about $185 against a $150 minimum charge — the rental loses before you count the trailer, the deposit and the afternoon. Rent when there are several: five stumps are about $330 in the same rental against $500, a $170 saving for 5–8 hours, and the saving grows with every stump on the same day. Hire regardless for stumps near gas lines, foundations or fences, and for a 36-inch hardwood that a rental machine will take all day to finish.

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Hire a pro per 30–60 ft tree, crown cleaned and raised, brush chipped and hauled

DIY $345–$405 Pro $300–$800

Hire a tree service for a mature 30–60 ft tree: a crew does it for $500 with a climber or a bucket, chips and hauls the brush, and cuts at the collar in the right season — and the DIY version, a pole saw rental and a ladder for $375, is how homeowners get hurt, because the cuts that matter are the ones you can't make from the ground. Hire for anything over the roof, near a power line, or over 30 feet. Trim it yourself when every cut is from the ground: a small tree under 30 feet is about $265 in a pole pruner, loppers, a hand saw and safety gear against $200 from a crew — more the first time, with the tools left over for every tree in the yard for a decade — and the deadwood and low limbs on bigger trees are yours too, as long as the pole saw reaches from your feet.

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Hire a pro per chimney, repointed above the roofline (about 40 sq ft of brick), crown sealed, new cap

DIY $585–$745 Pro $600–$1,800

Hire a mason to repoint the stack: it's $1,100 against about $665 in mortar, sealer, a grinder, a cap and a harness, and the $435 you'd save buys 8–14 hours of grinding and packing joints on a roof — the one place a fall is a certainty rather than a risk. Hire the flashing too, where the leak is and where a bad job puts water in the framing, and any rebuild, leaning stack or spalled brick. The one job to do yourself is the top: a new cap and a sealed crown from a walkable roof with a harness anchored to something solid, about $410 against $450 from a sweep — a wash the first time, because the harness is most of it, and a real saving every time after. Get a Level 2 camera inspection before any of it; the liner you can't see is the repair that matters.

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Hire a pro per 20×20 slab (400 sq ft, 4 in thick)

DIY $2,344–$2,718 Pro $2,400–$4,800

Hire a concrete finisher for a 20×20 garage or parking pad: it saves about $1,000 on paper, but it's five yards of concrete that must be placed, screeded and floated in about 90 minutes by three or four people who have done it before, and a slab a car parks on or a building sits on isn't the place to learn. Hire for anything over about 400 sq ft for the same reason. Pour a 10×10 shed pad or a 12×12 patio yourself if you have a helper and a free weekend: the saving is thin — about $100 once you buy the finishing tools — but bagged mix or a short load is forgiving, and a patio that isn't perfect is still a patio.

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Do it yourself per 25-foot, 3-foot-tall segmental block wall (75 sq ft of face)

DIY $1,945–$2,245 Pro $2,600–$4,900

Build it yourself below 4 feet. A 25-foot timber garden wall is about $980 in timbers, spikes, gravel and pipe against $1,200 from a landscaper — a small saving, because the timbers are most of the price — but a 25-foot, 3-foot block wall is about $2,095 in block, caps, stone and a compactor rental against $3,600, a $1,505 saving for 25–40 hours of heavy work. Hire at 4 feet and above, wherever there is a driveway, a slope or a structure above the wall, and for any poured concrete wall: those need a stamped design, a permit, geogrid or a footing and equipment, and a wall that fails takes the yard above it with it.

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Do it yourself per 2-car garage (about 400 sq ft)

DIY $1,100–$1,120 Pro $2,400–$4,000

Coat a garage floor yourself if you'll rent the grinder: a 100%-solids epoxy floor with flake and a clear topcoat is about $1,110 in materials, rentals and gear against $3,200 from a pro, a $2,090 saving for 16–24 hours over a weekend and a few evenings, and it lasts as long as the pro's if the prep is the same. Skip the water-based box kit unless it's a budget floor you'll redo — it saves $1,255 and peels under hot tires. Hire a contractor for a one-day polyaspartic system, where the 15-minute pot life punishes a first-timer, and for metallic floors, which are a technique as much as a material.

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Do it yourself per 2-bedroom, 2-bath apartment or small house (about 1,000 sq ft)

DIY $105–$157 Pro $180–$350

Do it yourself if you have the day and the lease doesn't require a receipt: about $131 in supplies and a filler kit against $260 for a 2-bedroom, a $129 saving that works out to roughly $16 an hour of scrubbing, rising to $248 on a 4-bedroom with the carpet rental. Hire a company when the lease demands professional cleaning or steam-cleaned carpets, when the walkthrough is the same day the movers leave, or when the deposit is large enough that a $260 receipt with a re-clean guarantee is cheap insurance.

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Hire a pro per 1,500 sq ft house (10 impact windows, aluminum single-hung)

DIY $7,830–$8,330 Pro $9,000–$18,000

Hire a licensed impact-window installer. The units themselves are most of the price — about $8,080 in windows, bucks, sealant, tools and permit for a 10-window house against $13,000 installed, a $4,920 saving on paper — but the job is permitted work inspected against a product approval's anchor schedule, most manufacturers sell only through installers and void the warranty otherwise, and the insurance wind-mitigation credit and the resale paperwork depend on a documented install. The one honest DIY case is a single window in an accessible block opening by someone who's done it, with an owner-builder permit; at about $1,390 against $1,300, even that saves nothing.

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Hire a pro per survey

DIY $130 Pro $500–$1,200

Hire a licensed surveyor for anything that touches the law: a fence, a permit, a sale, a dispute. DIY pin-finding costs $100–$250 and a few hours and is fine for rough planning, but it isn't a survey and has no legal standing.

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Hire a pro per 1,500 sq ft attic (roof deck, R-21 to R-30)

DIY $8,215–$8,495 Pro $5,000–$11,000

Hire a spray foam contractor for attics, garages and outbuildings. DIY kits cost $1.30–$2.00 a board foot — as much as a pro's installed price — so a 1,500 sq ft attic done from kits runs $8,215–$8,495 against a $7,500 quote, a pole barn is a wash, and a two-car garage saves about $500 for 8–14 hours in a respirator. Do it yourself only where a pro's minimum charge is the whole price: rim joists, a shed, or a few hundred board feet of gaps, where a $400 kit and safety gear come to about $570 against a $900 minimum.

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Hire a pro per tree

DIY $430–$880 Pro $600–$1,600

Hire a pro for anything taller than about 20 ft, near a structure, or that you can't fell in a clear direction. DIY only small, isolated trees, and only if you already own a chainsaw and safety gear — buying them for one small tree costs about what a pro charges, and the savings on big trees aren't worth the risk.

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Do it yourself per 1,500 sq ft house (about 200 ft of duct, 10 registers)

DIY $1,120–$1,518 Pro $3,000–$7,000

Replace flex ductwork yourself if it's a like-for-like job in an attic or crawl space you can work in: materials and tools for a 1,500 sq ft house come to $1,120–$1,518 against a $4,500 quote — a saving of about $3,200, or roughly $170 for every hour of hot, dusty work — and a few damaged runs are a $290 saving for an afternoon. Hire an HVAC contractor for a sheet metal trunk system, for any job that changes duct sizes, adds returns or moves registers, for ducts buried in finished walls, and wherever the code requires a licensed installer.

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Hire a pro per 1,500 sq ft, 2-bath house (about 12 fixtures)

DIY $1,465–$1,980 Pro $5,000–$10,000

Hire a plumber or a repipe specialist for a whole-house repipe: it's permitted work that most jurisdictions want a licensed plumber on, the pipe runs in a regular house are partly in finished walls or a slab, and a leak behind drywall costs more than the labor you skipped. The saving is large — $1,465–$1,980 in materials, tools and permit for a 1,500 sq ft, 2-bath house against a $7,500 quote, about $5,800 for 35–60 hours — which is why the exception exists: if your building department issues homeowner plumbing permits, every run is reachable from a crawl space, basement or attic, and it's PEX, an experienced DIYer can do it. Copper, slab reroutes and unlicensed work are where DIY repipes go wrong.

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Hire a pro per 200 sq ft extension (10×20 parking strip)

DIY $1,440–$1,840 Pro $1,600–$3,200

Hire a crew for a concrete extension: a 10×20 pour is about $1,640 in materials, forms and rentals against $2,200, and that $560 only pays if you've poured before and have a helper for the 90 minutes that decide whether it's flat. Hire for asphalt without exception — bagged cold-mix costs more than a contractor and never hardens properly. Build it yourself in gravel or pavers: a 10×20 gravel strip is about $750 in stone, fabric, edging and a compactor rental against $1,000, and pavers are about $1,925 against $3,500 — the biggest saving on this page, for 24–40 hours of careful base work that forgives mistakes.

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Do it yourself per season (26 visits)

DIY $181–$221 Pro $800–$2,550

Mow it yourself if you can spare an hour a week: DIY costs a few hundred dollars a season against $1,000–$2,000 for a service. Hire it out for large lots, if you physically can't, or if your time is genuinely worth more than about $45 an hour.

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Do it yourself per kitchen (about 30 sq ft)

DIY $447–$487 Pro $700–$1,500

Tile it yourself if it's ceramic or porcelain subway on a flat, painted wall: about $450–$500 in tile, materials and tools and a weekend saves roughly $500 over a pro. Hire a tile setter for glass, natural stone, herringbone or other demanding patterns, and a countertop shop for a slab.

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Do it yourself per crawl space

DIY $1,475–$1,875 Pro $1,500–$4,500

Insulate it yourself with fiberglass batts and a vapor barrier if the crawl space is dry and has 2 feet or more of clearance: materials are most of the cost either way, so a medium crawl space saves roughly $800–$1,500 for a miserable weekend on your back. Hire a contractor for a large crawl space over 1,500 sq ft, for spray foam or encapsulation, for any moisture, standing water or mold, and for a crawl space you can't comfortably move through — the job is unpleasant enough that the ones who quit halfway leave it worse than they found it.

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Hire a pro per acre

DIY $2,970–$4,845 Pro $2,000–$4,500

Hire a pro for anything with trees or more than about an acre: once you add rentals, delivery, fuel, disposal and your inexperience, DIY machine clearing costs about what a contractor with a forestry mulcher charges and takes several times longer. Clearing light brush yourself with a chainsaw and clearing saw saves a couple of hundred dollars an acre at best.

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