Features · DIY or pro
Every project in Eave asks one question: how will you handle this? Do it yourself with a costed materials list. Learn it first, with tutorials picked for the job. Or hire it out, with local pros and a place to track their quotes. You pick, and the plan follows.
The weekend question
A dripping faucet, a sagging fence, a water heater on its last year. The honest answer depends on the job, the tools you already own, how long it takes, whether it needs a permit, and what your Saturday is worth.
DIY or pro puts those pieces side by side on every project, so you choose with the numbers in front of you, and change your mind without starting over.
“I’d have done it myself if I’d known it was a two-hour job.”
How it works
Three paths
The same three choices appear on every project, from a faucet swap to a new roof. Nothing locks you in: start as DIY, and switch to Hire it out if the job turns out bigger than it looked.
A materials estimate for the exact job, grouped the way you’ll shop for it.
Materials estimate · Intelligence
For the job you’d like to do yourself but haven’t done before.
Free on every plan
A three-step tracker from the first search to the pro you pick.
Trade search free · project matches on Intelligence
CONTRACTORS AND HIRE IT OUT →Hire it out
Contractors has two tabs. My contractors is your own contact book: add a pro by form, scan a business card, paste a contact, or paste a Thumbtack, Angi, Yelp, or Houzz profile link. They carry across every home on your account.
Find local pros searches by trade, free. With Eave Intelligence, a project gets its own matches, each with a line on why it’s worth hiring out. A “Find a pro” chip sits on tasks too.
HOW CONTRACTORS WORK →
Budgets
Each project in Budgets has a DIY and a PRO toggle beside its cost. Flip a row to PRO and the budget follows, so the plan can hire out the water heater and still have you building the shelves.
The DIY vs hire calculator puts a number on the choice. Enter what an hour of your time is worth and the estimated hours, and it sets doing it yourself against hiring it out.
What you already own
Tools & Materials keeps your tools, kits, outdoor power equipment, and project stock in one list. Tool-kit checklists turn what’s missing into a shopping list.
When a project’s plan lists tools and materials, the ones you’ve bought before are marked as ones you likely have, read from your purchase history, so the list you take to the store is shorter.
Beyond the big jobs
DIY or pro isn’t only for projects. It follows the gutters, the furnace filter, and every other job that comes back each season.
Every recurring upkeep task asks the same question: I do it, or a contractor. Pick a contractor and the task shows who it is and what it costs each time.
Each project’s smart plan suggests DIY, Learn, or Hire, with the skill level, how long it takes, and whether a permit is needed. You make the call.
For a repair, a guided plan starts with safety and shut-offs, then DIY triage and when to hire. For a hire, it writes the scope of work and a quote checklist.
SEE CAPTURE →A before photo when you start, an after photo when you finish. Side by side, they stay in your home’s permanent record.
Upkeep tasks show the job both ways, like $0 DIY or $180 pro for the gutters, with a link to the budget.
Eave Pro, a home concierge, is coming soon. Join the waitlist to hear when it opens.
EAVE PRO →Same engine, every product
Do it or hire it is the same decision whether you own the house, run the building, are thinking of buying it, or are getting it ready to sell. What changes is what each product does with the answer.
Materials estimates, tutorials picked for the job, local pros and a quote tracker, Budgets with a DIY or PRO toggle on every row, and before and after photos on the home’s record.
RESIDENTIAL →Guided project plans come with org seats: triage and when to hire for a repair, and for a hire, the scope of work and a quote checklist to take to vendors.
COMMERCIAL →Candidate homes carry rough cost ranges, each labelled an estimate. They come from photos and documents; they aren’t an inspection or an appraisal.
BUYERS →The punch list before listing, from curb appeal to must-fix items, planned as DIY or pro in Budgets, so you know what getting ready costs before you start.
SELLERS →Questions, answered
The rest of the engine
Each one is useful alone. Together they’re why a receipt in your inbox ends up as a reminder in your plan. See how they fit together →
Get Eave
Add it to Eave and see it planned three ways: yourself, with a tutorial, or with a pro. Free for one home, in any browser.
Weekend DIYer? See Eave for DIY homeowners. Getting ready to sell? Eave for Sellers.
