As part of your New Year’s resolutions, you might be planning to tackle some DIY projects this year. At Creative Concrete, we’re all for this! After all, learning how to do things with your own two hands is immensely satisfying and can take your mind off the constant desire to check your news feeds.

Perhaps you’re thinking about installing new concrete, which happens to be the most widely used material in the world. You’d be making a solid investment by adding concrete structures around your home. A new driveway, sidewalk, or patio can enrich your lifestyle and even boost your home’s curb appeal.

However, we hold true to the fact that there are certain things better left to the professionals, one of which is concrete pouring. From concrete pool decks to concrete garage floors, it can be tempting to dive headfirst into the wide world of decorative concrete and construct the structure of your dreams.

But take it from our experienced residential contractors: Don’t try pouring concrete at home.

Unlike water, cement, and aggregates, concrete itself and DIY don’t mix. It’s best to leave any pouring work to the professionals.

Even if you’ve extensively researched online or even taken a course in concrete, professionals have the experience that amateurs simply don’t. And when it comes to concrete, having experience is everything. It’s as much an art form as it is a science.

Here are three solid reasons not to get in over your head and attempt to DIY concrete.

As a construction medium, concrete is tough as nails and versatile. Why else would it be such a commonly-used material?

But to achieve all these characteristics, concrete must be poured with an exact concentration of each ingredient. For example, too much aggregate makes a difficult-to-spread substance, and too little of it makes concrete weak.

Even if you’ve done your research and made your plans, there’s still a good amount of guesswork that you may have to do. Getting the measurements just right and determining the proper consistency of concrete is difficult to judge if you have little to no experience.

Why waste your time with trial and error? Call a professional and get the job done right the first time.

When things go wrong – as they often do with DIY – the costs can quickly rack up. From the initial cost of buying or renting equipment to trial and error mess ups that require getting more concrete and materials, budgeting for your DIY project is complicated.

If you need to stick to a strict monetary amount or simply don’t want to have to go over budget, a professional can better give you an accurate estimate of what any given project will cost, giving you a more stable financial future.

With a DIY concrete project, no matter how much planning you do, you can’t guarantee how much time it will take to complete. What seems like a task that should only take a few hours has you spending your whole weekend on your knees.

Even more frustrating is when you can’t complete a project in your allotted time frame, and it has to sit for days or even weeks before you can get back to it.

Use a pro like Creative Concrete to avoid those timing headaches. Along with receiving accurate cost estimates, a good concrete contractor will also give you an accurate time estimate for your specific project.

With the coming spring and summer, let our experienced concrete contractors help you design the perfect concrete driveway, walkway, patio, pool deck, and more! We’ll help you determine color options and stamped concrete designs that best complete your home’s exteriors.

And with over 20 years of experience installing concrete structures, our experts offer accurate and free estimates on your project! Give our New Brighton office a call at 612-414-7932.