DIY vs professional TV mounting

When DIY is genuinely the right call

There is no virtue in paying for a job you can do well. All five of these should be true:

• The wall is modern plasterboard on a timber or steel frame
• You can locate and confirm the studs
• The screen is roughly 55 inches or smaller, under about 30kg
• You are fitting a fixed or tilting bracket, not a full-motion arm
• The cable can run in surface trunking, or you accept it showing

That is a large share of homes built since the 1990s. If that is you, get the height right, use the studs, and keep the money.

When it stops being worth it

Lath and plaster

The most common reason a Hobart DIY mount fails. Electronic stud detectors read the laths and report studs almost everywhere, so people fix into a lath, and a lath will not hold a television. Why detectors fail on these walls.

Brick veneer mistaken for solid brick

A veneer skin is a single leaf of brick with a cavity behind it. Anchored into the veneer alone, a large screen can hold for months and then let go. From inside the room the two look identical, which is exactly the problem.

Sandstone and solid masonry

Needs an SDS drill and the right anchors. Once you have hired the tool and bought the fixings, the saving is small and the consequence of a misplaced hole in colonial sandstone is permanent.

Full-motion mounts

The leverage at full extension is very different from flat against the wall. These want two studs or a proper backing plate, and they are the mounts most often under-fixed.

Anything above a heat source

Not a fixing problem, a judgement problem. Clearance, mount type and warranty all interact. The honest answer on wood heaters.

A new power point

Fixed wiring is licensed electrical work under AS/NZS 3000. This is not a skill question, it is a legal one, and doing it yourself can affect your insurance.

Why televisions actually come off walls

It is almost never the bracket failing. In rough order of frequency:

1. Fixed into plasterboard anchors rather than studs
2. Fixed into a brick veneer skin rather than the frame behind it
3. Fixed into a lath rather than the stud, in a pre-1940 home
4. Only two of four bracket holes used, so the load concentrates on the wrong fixings
5. Screws too short to properly engage the timber
6. A full-motion mount fixed to one stud

Note that five of the six are the fixing, and none is the bracket. That is why the wall matters more than the hardware.

The real cost comparison

Doing it yourself is not free. A stud detector, a decent long level, the right bits and the correct fixings add up, and on masonry you are hiring an SDS drill. If you already own the tools the saving is real. If you are buying them for one job, it is thinner than it looks.

What paying buys, beyond labour: the bracket matched to your screen, someone carrying public liability insurance, a workmanship warranty, cable concealment as an option, and somebody who will tell you when the wall is not suitable rather than drilling anyway. Our Hobart prices are published.

If you are doing it yourself, do these three things

1. Confirm the stud with a probe, not just a detector beep. A 2mm hole where the bracket will cover it.
2. Use all four bracket holes and the fixings supplied, in the right length.
3. Set the height from your seated eye line before you drill, not after.

And if you get the bracket up and it does not feel solid, stop. A television that moves when you push it will not get better.

More guides

• TV mounting height guide - How high to mount a 55, 65 or 75 inch television, in millimetres, using the seated eye-line method rather than a single number.
• VESA mount sizes explained - How to measure your television’s VESA pattern in thirty seconds, plus the common patterns by brand and screen size.
• Pull-down TV mounts - How pull-down and mantel mounts work, what they cost, and the structure they need behind the wall.

Reviewed: August 2026