J Sigmo
Known around here
- Feb 5, 2018
- 996
- 1,336
As much of a pain as it can be to DIY some things, the advantages are often worthwhile.
You end up understanding everything, which makes additions and modifications easier. You save some money. You get the job done exactly the way you want, etc.
Even if you don't end up doing it all yourself, you will know exactly what you want and understand what the contractor should be doing. You might be able to do a lot of the work, and just have some of the hard or special-equipment work done for you. So it can't hurt to at least study everything as if you will be doing it yourself.
Knowing what the codes require and how do do everything safely and efficiently will serve you well whether or not you end up doing any or all of it yourself.
I also think most people get into this initially wanting and expecting it to be a fast, easy job, and just wanting to flip a switch and have an ideal system up and running right away. That's sort of how I thought of it all initially. I was too anxious to have it done fast.
In the end, even though you won't have a working system as quickly as you may have envisioned at first, you will likely end up with a much better system if you take some time and just lurk here for a while.
Looking at a lot of the camera capture videos on here will demonstrate how ineffective a lot of the footage really ends up being in terms of actionable positive identification, etc. And that will really affect how you decide to choose and position your cameras.
And your system will likely evolve even after initially setting something up. And that is another place where DIY is helpful. Most of us couldn't afford to pay contractors to move and add cameras as we decide to improve our systems. But doing things ourselves makes tweaks, additions, etc., practical.
As Looney suggests, trial and error with camera placement is a really good idea. That all takes time. But in the end, you need to know exactly where you'll want everything before hiring someone to do the installation if you go that route.
It's worth buying some special tools if you do things yourself. And always be safe. Falling off of a ladder is a lot more expensive than even your really high quotes, of course. Make sure the contractors are bonded and insured, too.
You end up understanding everything, which makes additions and modifications easier. You save some money. You get the job done exactly the way you want, etc.
Even if you don't end up doing it all yourself, you will know exactly what you want and understand what the contractor should be doing. You might be able to do a lot of the work, and just have some of the hard or special-equipment work done for you. So it can't hurt to at least study everything as if you will be doing it yourself.
Knowing what the codes require and how do do everything safely and efficiently will serve you well whether or not you end up doing any or all of it yourself.
I also think most people get into this initially wanting and expecting it to be a fast, easy job, and just wanting to flip a switch and have an ideal system up and running right away. That's sort of how I thought of it all initially. I was too anxious to have it done fast.
In the end, even though you won't have a working system as quickly as you may have envisioned at first, you will likely end up with a much better system if you take some time and just lurk here for a while.
Looking at a lot of the camera capture videos on here will demonstrate how ineffective a lot of the footage really ends up being in terms of actionable positive identification, etc. And that will really affect how you decide to choose and position your cameras.
And your system will likely evolve even after initially setting something up. And that is another place where DIY is helpful. Most of us couldn't afford to pay contractors to move and add cameras as we decide to improve our systems. But doing things ourselves makes tweaks, additions, etc., practical.
As Looney suggests, trial and error with camera placement is a really good idea. That all takes time. But in the end, you need to know exactly where you'll want everything before hiring someone to do the installation if you go that route.
It's worth buying some special tools if you do things yourself. And always be safe. Falling off of a ladder is a lot more expensive than even your really high quotes, of course. Make sure the contractors are bonded and insured, too.
