Can You DIY Your Wine Cellar or Should You Hire Someone Else to Do It?

You’re excited about the idea of building a wine cellar in your home, but there’s something you’re just not sure about: Should you build a wine cellar with your own two hands or pay someone else to do it?

That’s a good question and one that we hope to answer by the end of the post.

Let’s discuss the benefits of building a wine cellar on your own.

Save Money

When you DIY your wine cellar build, you’ll save a lot of money in the process. This is perhaps the biggest reason to do it yourself. Labor costs can tally up to 50% or more of your total expenses. But you can pocket the money that you’d otherwise spend on skilled labor if you learn to do it yourself.

Related post: Wine Cellar Cooling and Ventilation Guide

Create a High Quality Result

There’s a perception that DIY work creates an inferior result, but that’s not always the case. Because you’re more likely to take your time and use quality products, you can probably build a better wine cellar than you can pay for.

Learn Something New

If you’re new to building wine cellars, or are new to home construction in general, then the building process will be a learning experience. And that’s a good thing because you’ll expand your skill set.

Gain a Sense of Accomplishment

When you’re able to successfully build a project as significant as a wine cellar from scratch, you’ll feel like you can take on the world. You’ll gain a feeling of accomplishment that you can always look back on. Plus, you’ll have earned bragging rights! Not many people can say they built an entire room onto their home, let alone a wine cellar. That’s seriously impressive!

Go at Your Own Pace

Building a wine cellar on your own will take longer than if you hired a professional to do it for you. However, you may not be in a rush. And you can learn a lot on the journey.

When hiring a contractor, you’re always hyper sensitive about how long the process is taking, especially if you’re paying by the hour. But if you do it yourself, you’re working on your own schedule. You can work through the night in a super-fast fashion, or you can stretch it out over the course of several weeks or months.

You set the pace and you can speed up or slow down as you see fit.

Increase the Value of Your Home

Whether it’s DIY or hired out, adding a wine cellar to your home will add to the beautiful, uniqueness, and value of your home.

From a personal perspective, building a wine cellar with your own strength and creativity will also increase your home’s value in your eyes. It will be a lasting reminder that you’ve added equity to your home through your sweat and effort.

Related post: Can a Wine Cellar Raise the Value of your Home?

Jumpstart a New Hobby

Bored and looking for something to do? Consider turning a list of much-needed home renovations into your new hobby. Whether you’ve purchased a fixer upper or a custom built home, there’s always room for a little home improvement. As your interior design taste evolves, you’ll likely want to switch things up around your home. Or even add an entire room to your floor plan.

You can start off your new hobby by learning how to build the wine cellar of your dreams. And who knows where you’ll go from there? Remodeling is a fun, relaxing, and educational hobby to have.

Earn Money

While renovating your home isn’t the cheapest hobby available, it can be one of the most profitable ones. You may not have considered it before, but you can turn your hobby into a source of secondary income.

Enthusiastic renovators have set up YouTube channels to share their building process with others. And because you can allow YouTube to show ads on your videos, you can actually earn money when people watch. Document your wine cellar building process from design to building to decorating and then share it with others over a series of videos. You can create a knowledgeable and supportive community on YouTube while earning money from ad revenue at the same time.

Relax

Is life stressing you out?

On the heels of an incredibly traumatic year and global pandemic, we could all use a stress reliever. This is why a lot of people turned to home renovation in the past year. If you’re looking for a way to relax, consider taking up the hobby of home renovation, starting with your wine cellar.

Building a cellar can be a relaxing experience. You can unplug from normal distractions, such as the television, phone, and computer while you immerse yourself in the building process.

Bond With Family and Friends

You don’t have to build your cellar alone. Invite your friends and family to help you turn a pile of lumber into a magnificent wine storage space. If you order out and keep a steady supply of snacks and drinks, you can turn your DIY wine cellar build into a fun and memorable weekend event with your loved ones.

Related post: How to be the Best Wine Party Host

You’re Free to Explore Your Own Ideas

Sometimes it’s difficult to communicate your ideas and visions for a wine storage room to your contractor. But, if you decide to build your wine cellar by yourself, you can make it to your exact specifications. You’re free to build in the way that you want.

You Become More Active

No doubt about it, construction is physical work. When you’re building a wine cellar in your home, you’ll spend a lot of time on your feet and working with your hands. If you give your all to the process, you’ll walk away utterly exhausted at the end of the day, and maybe with a few calluses on your hands.

But if your day job is spent behind a desk, your entrance into the DIY world will instantly increase your activity level. Being active is good for your physical health and mental wellbeing.

Feel Empowered

After you’ve tackled building a wine cellar, you may feel empowered to take on other projects in your home. There’s no reason to stop at your wine cellar. Why not build a man cave? Put together a she-shed? Renovate your kitchen? If you’ve completed one major project, you’ll feel empowered to take on more projects.

Building your own wine cellar can be frustrating at times, but ultimately, it’s a rewarding experience and one that can motivate you for the future.

Read more in: How to Build a Wine Cellar?

What About Hiring Someone Else to Build Your Wine Cellar Instead?

Up until this point, we’ve discussed all of the benefits of DIYing your own wine cellar. But there are several reasons why you may wish to work with a professional contractor.

First, their expertise. You may have the passion and the vision, but you don’t have the same level of experience that a professional builder will have.

Second, you’ll save time. If you’re new to home renovation, you must learn everything from scratch. That takes time. But if you hire someone else to do it, you no longer need to invest your time into the building process.

Third, they have more connections. A professional contractor can get special access to products and pricing that may not be available to the public.

Related post: How to Build an Underground Wine Cellar

Not Sure Whether or Not to DIY Your Wine Cellar?

Let us help! Our dedicated customer service team can help you decide between hiring a pro and doing the renovation on your own. Contact our customer service team now.

Randy Green

Randy is a true wine storage aficionado and expert in wine cellar design. He gained construction experience as a partner in a general contracting business before niching into and passionately focusing on creating wine storage solutions for clients in 2016. He takes great pride in bringing these designs to life, and is dedicated to ensuring that every wine cellar he creates is not only functional but also a beautiful addition to any home or business. The Wine Cellar HQ team also includes refrigeration sizing experts and licensed HVAC technicians to ensure optimal climate control for your wine cellar, so that your wines can age to perfection.