Man, not being handy is expensive

[Exterous]

We had dinner with a group of people and some acquaintance friends were talking about problems with their home and how expensive it was. Over the course of 3 weeks they had a leaking faucet replaced, broken dishwasher replaced and broken toilet replaced. They said it was like $700 in labor (separate calls).

I've done all three and they're not my favorite things to do but it's not overly difficult and I'd rather spend that $700 on something else. I also have no idea if $700 for that is reasonable for the area or not

 

[IronWing]

Around here, plumbing calls start at $200 to show up.

 

[brianmanahan]

part of the reason that i still rent

 

[RLGL]

Being a jack of all trades is handy, saves money

 

[ImpulsE69]

I'll say it this way...youtube is your friend. Over the years I replaced a gas water heater, a couple toilets and a dishwasher all myself. It's a bit daunting at first...but it is way cheaper. That being said, the most difficult of them was the dishwasher...WOW that was a pain in the ass.

 

[Exterous]

That being said, the most difficult of them was the dishwasher...WOW that was a pain in the ass.

I've done that a couple of times. One of the immediately noticeable things about the Bosch dishwasher I bought is that it was easier to install. They really put some thought into the design

 

[spacejamz]

leaking faucet is probably $5 or less for new washers and should take about 30 minutes.

toilet replacement kit is around $20 and 30 minutes

I haven't replaced a dishwasher before so no clue on that one...

 

[T_Yamamoto]

My dad currently is remodeling both the master and the downstairs bathroom. He finished the upstairs bathroom a couple months ago (new vanity, paint, tiles, tub with tiles, etc.). Downstairs got a fresh coat of paint and new light fixture (wallpaper was like floral design), master getting completely redone.

I, too, am cheap so I believe that I'll probably do some work myself.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

part of the reason that i still rent

Nothing wrong with 24hr on call maintenance staff. Plus its cheap to relocate

 

[dave_the_nerd]

$700 in labor for three separate calls is actually a pretty good deal.

I did a replacement faucet last week. I could probably do the dishwasher easily enough (the hoses are right next to where the faucet hookups are, and everything's easy to get to and take apart) but a toilet I'd probably want to watch somebody else do.

However, next on the list is a new kitchen sink. (She wants stainless steel now.)

 

[paperfist]

My dad currently is remodeling both the master and the downstairs bathroom. He finished the upstairs bathroom a couple months ago (new vanity, paint, tiles, tub with tiles, etc.). Downstairs got a fresh coat of paint and new light fixture (wallpaper was like floral design), master getting completely redone.

I, too, am cheap so I believe that I'll probably do some work myself.

I don't think it's being cheap if you're competent enough to do the work yourself. Most of them time when you hire out the results aren't that great anyway.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah it amazes me the stuff people won't bother to fix. Then again I'm the same with my car. Only reason is because I don't really have a proper place to work on it and don't really want to deal with working in extreme cold or extreme heat so I never really took the time to learn to work on cars. But for stuff in my house, I definitely fix my own stuff most of the time.

I even change my own parts in my furnace. High efficiency furnaces are actually really easy to work on, they pretty much tell you what's wrong with it.

 

[Paratus]

Let see in the last year we’ve

• Fashioned a gasket to fix a washing machine leak after the repair guy couldn’t.
• Replaced a toilet
• Rebuilt the 3 year old dishwasher because the stupid 30 cent leaking gasket only came as part of the sump
• Replaced the last lock actuator on our Malibu
• Replaced the intake and exhaust solenoids on the Malibu
• Replaced the radio head unit in my Subaru BRZ with an aftermarket one including satellite radio and backup camera.

That’s got to have saved me $1000’s

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Around here, plumbing calls start at $200 to show up.

Yeap.

I was out of town on work and a pipe burst in the yard (likely from tree roots). I think my wife can do it on her own now that she realizes that it isn't too difficult (turn off water, buy replacement pipe and glue together).

Regardless... and in all honestly... $700 is overall a very small amount for me overall. If my choice is take time off work for a full day+ or hire someone I'll take hiring someone. I'm paid more for a reason.

 

[gorobei]

i assume the $700 is for diagnose and labor only.

• a leaky faucet or washer/gasket replacement is a diy and mostly only annoying depending on how your cabinetry is laid out.
• a toilet replacement is actually pretty simple but just scary if you havent seen it done before or watched a video.
• dishwasher replacement is just annoying due to the weight and disposal of the old one. but its mostly about connecting some hoses.

but replacing is easy, fixing is harder.
repairing a dishwasher is beyond my ability to diagnose or source parts. a washer for a faucet is easier. a low flow vacuum toilet i wouldnt know how to access the mechanism past the p-trap. so it is a bit of a conundrum since you wont know when it is a cheap and easy fix vs a just buy a new one situation. so you are paying some amount just for the expertise.

do it yourself when you know you want something new/reliable

 

[zinfamous]

Being a jack of all trades is handy, saves money

It's great for real life home ownership, but if you don't min-max before the super mutants show up, you're really going to regret not perking into sniper/assassin, or pure mele skills, instead of dividing all of those points into mechanics, intelligence, and "better aim."

 

[Exterous]

Regardless... and in all honestly... $700 is overall a very small amount for me overall. If my choice is take time off work for a full day+ or hire someone I'll take hiring someone. I'm paid more for a reason.

If you're taking a whole day off to do any of those (or even all 3) then you're doing it wrong

 

[Zeze]

Anyone made a pun joke about 'handy' being expensive yet

 

[olds]

I get my appliance parts here. They also often have videos to show how to replace the part.
https://www.repairclinic.com

 

[BurnItDwn]

Ehh, there is a middle ground, instead of calling a plumber for everything, call a cheap handyman service for much of the stuff you don't want to do. They charge a hell of a lot less than a plumber, and will do fine as long as they don't need to cut pipes or solder stuff.

 

[TXHokie]

If you're taking a whole day off to do any of those (or even all 3) then you're doing it wrong

I've tackled a couple of DIY repair project and always under estimate how long it takes because it's not something I do everyday and a lot of time requires multiple trips to Lowes/HD to pick up some stupid specialty stuff I don't have handy. I did a toilet replacement one time and thought it was easy morning work of removing the old, put in new wax ring, bold in new toilet...piece of cake. Took out the old and found a broken gaping hole with rusted broken bolt and half a toilet mounting ring. Now it became a full restoration job dig out the broken old mount, put in a new with mounting bolt and fill in with cement before I can even put in new toilet. That quick one morning job became two weekends. Those guys on "This Old House" makes it look so easy but they are pros.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

The millennial in the trade is what bothers me more than traditional ones like Gen X and Boomers. They break out their nifty tablet and make each item as individual a job as possible to insure you pay as if you hired three different people for the three jobs. None of them will do work for time & materials. I've now concluded it is easier to buy a toilet off of Amazon and pay Amazon to have it installed than hire some millennial to do it. The millennial wanted $350 to repair the ball & cock and flapper for one toilet but Amazon will replace the entire unit including labor for that. Fine, I'll take the new. Seriously, though, I miss the time and materials means of hiring trades people.

 

[highland145]

I've tackled a couple of DIY repair project and always under estimate how long it takes because it's not something I do everyday and a lot of time requires multiple trips to Lowes/HD to pick up some stupid specialty stuff I don't have handy. I did a toilet replacement one time and thought it was easy morning work of removing the old, put in new wax ring, bold in new toilet...piece of cake. Took out the old and found a broken gaping hole with rusted broken bolt and half a toilet mounting ring. Now it became a full restoration job dig out the broken old mount, put in a new with mounting bolt and fill in with cement before I can even put in new toilet. That quick one morning job became two weekends. Those guys on "This Old House" makes it look so easy but they are pros.

This is my life.

 

[Kaido]

That's one of the reasons I got into computers.

The first two computers I ever built back in 2001 - a Duron & an Athlon (mmm, Thunderbird) - I cracked the core on the Duron CPU & static-fried the motherboard on the Athlon because I had no idea what I was doing. Cost me $300 each (total of $600, when I was making $7/hr in high school at the local pizza shop, ouch) to get repaired/replaced at the local computer shop. Decided I'd never get myself into that situation again & dove into learning about computers. Here I am, 18 years later with 40k+ posts on ATOT. Wait a minute...

 

[Schfifty Five]

Ever since owning a home (3.5 years ago), I've managed to fix quite a few things around the house by googling/youtube. Definitely takes some time to learn certain things, buy the right tools, etc, but the idea of saving $200 to replace a toilet's pump/flush for maybe 1 hour of learning, and 1 hour of labor definitely was worth it. Now I know how to fix all of my toilets if the internal parts fail. That's just one example.

Also replaced my garbage disposal which was easy because I already had the locking frame in place (same brand disposal replacement) so didn't need to reseal anything. The hard part was cutting the pipes to the correct lengths to get everything to fit properly. Also learned how to clean out sink drain pipes for clogs or slow draining.

But there definitely are other things that I either can't do myself, or am not willing to do myself and will spend the money to get fixed.