personal contribution / DIY work
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DIY work
Work or a contribution that a person does themselves instead of paying professional service providers for it, often in order to save costs, for example when building a house.
Durch viel Eigenleistung beim Renovieren konnten wir die Kosten für Handwerker deutlich senken.
By doing a lot of the renovation work ourselves, we were able to significantly reduce the costs for tradespeople.
personal contribution
The personal contribution or individual work performed within a project or team effort, distinguished from the contributions of others.
Bei der Benotung der Gruppenarbeit wird die Eigenleistung jedes Einzelnen berücksichtigt.
When grading the group project, each individual's personal contribution is taken into account.
The word is made up of 'eigen' (own) and 'die Leistung' (performance/contribution). It therefore describes a contribution that you make yourself and on your own behalf.
Die gesamte Planung war seine persönliche Eigenleistung.
The entire planning was his personal contribution.
The fixed expression 'in Eigenleistung' is especially common. It means that you do something yourself instead of hiring a company.
Wir haben das ganze Haus in Eigenleistung renoviert.
We renovated the whole house ourselves.
This meaning is very often used in the context of house construction, renovation, or gardening, usually with the goal of saving money.
Ohne die hohe Eigenleistung beim Bau wäre das Projekt zu teuer geworden.
Without the high amount of DIY work during construction, the project would have become too expensive.
This meaning is often found in the context of school, university, or work. Here it is about evaluating or describing the contribution of an individual person within a team.
Der Professor bewertet nicht nur das Gruppenergebnis, sondern auch die Eigenleistung jedes Studenten.
The professor evaluates not only the group result, but also each student's personal contribution.
self-help
Selbsthilfe and Eigenleistung can both refer to work done without professional help. Selbsthilfe emphasizes repairing or building something independently, whereas Eigenleistung highlights a person's own contribution in place of paid service providers. Use Selbsthilfe for the way something is done, and Eigenleistung when this contribution counts toward a project or its costs.
Beim Hausbau wird die Eigenleistung der Familie von den Kosten für die Handwerker getrennt.
When building the house, the family's own labor is listed separately from the cost of hiring tradespeople.
Durch Selbsthilfe renoviert die Familie das Zimmer ohne Handwerker.
The family is renovating the room themselves, without hiring tradespeople.
