As many of you homeowners out there know, DIY projects can easily get out of hand, costing you way more money or taking you much longer to complete than you originally envisioned.

When I started doing some DIY projects recently after buying a new house, it occurred to me that I should be using my engineering skills to help these projects go more smoothly.

Engineers are highly trained and adept at planning and completing projects by simply following a process to make sure they get the results they need.

Why not practice these skills for any project you want to complete?

Using an engineer mindset helped me feel much more efficient, prepared for what was to come, and the resulting confidence allowed me to really enjoy the process much more.

Here are my suggestions on how to complete DIY projects like an engineer, helping you to save more money, time, and also get much more out of the experience.

 

Reverse Engineering

Ever heard the term “reverse engineering” or have someone tell you they just reverse engineered it?

What does that mean?

Reverse engineering is simply first imagining the end result and then critically thinking backward in time about which steps would be involved to get there.

By working backward through the steps in your mind, you end up outlining and defining the tasks and steps needed to complete the project.

Reverse Engineering is really just done by asking yourself the right questions and becoming very good at visualizing yourself doing a project, which is a topic discussed next.

Start with asking yourself what does the end product look like? How does it work?

Imagine yourself using it.

Now think about what was the last step you needed to attain the final product? What needs to be done first, last, or before anything can be started?

List out the steps best you can but don’t worry about the order, just do a mind dump. Let your mind start solving the problem by thinking about all the things you need to do.

For example, I did a wiring project in my garage and imagined how I would turn on the lights and where they would be. This helped me determine locations for outlets and switches.

Then I thought about where the wires should go and how I would get them there. It required removing sheet rock and first verifying that my route could be achieved.

Once you start to make your task list you may encounter other problems and road blocks.

Simply repeat the process for these smaller obstacles too. It may result in a side project in order to prepare for your original goal.

In the engineering world, we call this

Make ready work: Projects necessary in order to complete the original project.

Review your task list and try to order them best you can, working on visualizing yourself doing each step.

Critically thinking through steps involved in a project is a practiced skill that won’t be developed overnight, just get started and do your best.

 

Visualization

Engineers are also exceptional at visualizing processes, machine operation, movement, and have excellent spatial awareness. They can accurately imagine shapes, volumes and distances.

Vividly imagine yourself working on your project.

What are the first steps? What tools will you use? How will you climb the ladder and position your body? What equipment will you need to buy?

If it’s a kitchen project for example, imagine cooking a meal and go through to motions. Are things in the right places and easy to access?

Write all this information down.

By visualizing, you’ll begin to automatically generate a materials list for yourself, as well as define the steps needed and an approximate timeframe for completion of your project (as discussed above.)

Visualization might be hard at first, but with any skill the more you practice the more you improve.

Once you actually work on your project, you’ll learn a ton and your visualization skills will increase drastically.

 

Sketch Out Diagrams

All engineers use some form of a drawing, map, or sketch to layout a project.

This is essential to see how things will fit together, what materials are needed, and to communicate the design to others who may be constructing it without oversight.

Don’t be afraid to sketch out any aspect of your project no matter how crude you think your drawing is.

Your first sketches will evolve into better and better ones as you understand more of what needs to be done.

Diagrams and drawings also help improve visualization and generate materials lists.

You can even list materials needed on your drawing in a special table with the quantities needed.

Engineers call this the “BOM” or Bill of Materials. They sometimes put numbers next to the materials on the list that correspond to locations or symbols in their drawing.

Make measurements on with your project and put them on your drawing. You won’t have to measure so many times or forget.

 

Generate Task List and Materials List

Once you have reverse engineered, visualized and sketched out your project, it should be now much easier to list out the tasks and sub-tasks needed to complete your project.

I really like listing super small steps on each task in case I only have 30 minutes of free time to do something, I can accomplish small steps and feel good about it.

Once you have the steps listed, you can generate your materials list, maybe even organized according to time of need.

This is useful if you’re on a budget and can only buy so much a month, for example.

 

Keep a DIY Journal

As you begin to complete the work, it’s essential that you take several pictures to keep track of the steps you took and the outcome.

I highly recommend getting a nice permanent journal for all your DIY projects.

Having a journal will make record of lessons learned, mistakes, and which steps are needed to complete certain tasks.

You can refer to your notes later to remember how to do something or to iterate and do it better next time.

You also have documentation of where things were placed and how they were built if they become covered up or hidden.

If you put wires behind sheetrock or underground sprinkler lines in for instance, pictures and records will tell you where they are.

Recording your progress also builds your confidence and momentum, seeing how you’ve grown and learned along the way.

 

Conclusion

In summary, using an engineer’s mindset can vastly improve your experience and efficiency in completing do-it-yourself home projects.

We discussed how reverse engineering involves thinking about the end goal and working backward through the steps or processes that are needed to achieve it, allowing you to list out tasks and the steps involved more easily.

Visualization is also essential for easily developing a chronological task list, timeframe for completion, and even a materials list.

Visualization is greatly aided by sketching drawings of your project in order to understand distances, measurements, materials involved, and have an overall plan.

Lastly, recording your progress in a permanent journal provides many benefits to learning, record keeping, and seeing growth within your own abilities for future reference and improvement.

Using these techniques will surely help your next DIY project go more smoothly!