Should you DIY acoustic panels, or buy them pre-built? My answer is… Buy them. Let me explain why…
You might think that building your own panels would save your church a lot of money, but with the cost of materials these days, you don’t save much. We ran prices of all materials needed from both Lowes and Home Depot and Lowes came out the cheapest at $49.84 to make one 2’ x 4’ 2” thick panel.
Then when you add the cost of the mineral wool and fire-resistant fabric purchased from ATS Acoustic for $34.02 and hanging hardware for $4.80, your total comes out to $88.66. Compare that to buying the same panel pre-made from ATS Acoustic with hardware included for $81.95 per panel.
This also assumes that you already have all the tools you need to make it happen. In case you’re wondering… If you get the cheapest option for all the tools you need, it comes out to $81.47.
If you want to check out all of the materials required with links to Lowes and Home Depot, click here.
Obviously, prices are going to vary from store to store, and you might find materials and tools a little cheaper than Lowes elsewhere but this gives you an example of a ballpark price for DIY.
When it comes to church, the people involved in making these panels can be paid staff or volunteers, both of which have valuable time. Is it worth the time commitment whether the people making them are getting paid or not?
In my opinion, people's time is more valuable than potentially saving a few dollars per panel. Depending on the speed of the person and the amount of panels you need, it could be a large time commitment.
Not to mention you also have to account for the time commitment for installation as well, if you don’t decide to hire that out. Needless to say, the time you save by buying the panels pre-made is completely worth it.
Unless the person tasked with making the panels is really great at doing so, they are not going to look as good as they would had you bought them pre-made.
The pre-made panels form ATS look fantastic and are perfectly smooth. Compare them to some panels that we DIY’d in another church building in the past, and you can see the difference in craftsmanship (see YouTube video).
If you head to ATS Acoustics website, you can use their Free Online Room Acoustics Analysis to figure out how many panels you need. You can also contact ATS Acoustics with any additional questions.
If you want professional installation they don’t do on-site installation themselves, but they can pair you with a company that they recommend.
Installation hardware is included with every panel you purchase from ATS and is pretty easy to install. They don’t leave holes any bigger than you would by hanging a picture frame. You can also order swatches of their fabrics to test in your space.
To get a quote for the cost of getting your room acoustically treated with ATS Acoustics panels, check out the link in the description. Not only will you get your room acoustics dialed in, but you’ll support our channel in the process.
If you do want to do things the hard way for some reason, check out our video with step-by-step instructions on how to build your panels here..
