BIY

English

Etymology

Initialism of buy it yourself, inspired by DIY.

Noun

BIY (uncountable)

1. The act of purchasing materials for a project (typically a home renovation) and then hiring a professional to use them.
   • 1978 April 23, Stephen Kindel, “Split‐Level Sprawl in Europe”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-02-10:

     UBM, which has 120 fully‐stocked branches around Britain, sees a growing demand for what it calls the B.I.Y. (buy-it-yourself) market of self‐contractors who select their components and then pay a tradesman for installation.

   • 1987 April 10, Marketing:

     BIY is where consumers buy the materials for professionals to fit. "According to the Polycell Report, from Reed's Polycell Products, DIY is being replaced by BIY (Buy-it-yourself),"

   • [2001 August 9, John Cassy, “B&Q moves in with its China ware”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎^[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2014-05-09:

     B&Q has been learning lessons in China from the moment it opened its first store in 1999. People here prefer the term BIY - buy it yourself, and then employ labour to do the work for them.]

   • 2009 August 27, “Orient Homes chief Li Fengjiang tools up for China’s DIY revolution”, in The Daily Telegraph‎^[3], London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-11-21:

     It is less DIY, however, than BIY: Buy-it-Yourself.

Usage notes

• BIY is considered to be a middle ground between DIY (“do it yourself”) and hiring a contractor who completes the work completely on their own.