Please discuss: Avail yourself or DIY?

[Muse]

In my younger days (way back) I was determined to never let anything or anyone dissuade me from availing myself of services available. Yes, that's a general idea but the idea was just that general, and I was adamant.

Many years have passed and I'm not like that now. Or maybe I am but just don't realize it. Fact is, I was very poor for a long time in an area with an extremely high cost of living. I had no profession or trade, I bounced around from one source of income to another, worked temps for ~10 years, had a real hard time. I wanted steady work, would never quit a job, was honest, loyal, competent, punctual, but the longest job I've ever had was less than 2.5 years. Just seems I wasn't cut out to stay in one job very long, although I wanted to so I could "get ahead!" I saved my earnings, never felt I had "disposable income." Occasionally I'd splurge on something, 3 figures.

I made rent (had a brief time when I had to ask my landlord to let me slide my very cheap rent, and he did), ate super cheap, and if something needed doing, I did it myself almost exclusively. I accumulated tools, basic hardware, improvised.

Now, I have more money, partly because I'm on Social Security, also I inherited a chunk of money. So, I can afford way more than I used to but I'm still fundamentally frugal.

I figure there's a benefit to being DIY even if you can afford to pay others to do things for you. Of course, I have a dentist! If I hadn't started seeing doctors around 20 years ago I figure I might well be dead... a blood test revealed I had hyperparathyroidism, which caused elevated calcium levels in my blood. A simple operation fixed that, but untreated I probably would have had a bunch of broken bones by now and who knows what else?

My house really needs painting, bricklayer work, some other stuff. I'm just not comfortable hiring contractors. Yeah, when my efforts to stop roof leaks were obviously not working I had my roof replaced. Trenchless sewer done, too. Necessary stuff!

I really enjoy DIY (a lot of times), but figure I maybe take it too far sometimes.

What's your attitude? How to you keep yourself balanced, sensible, of good conscience, pleased, etc. with respect to doing things for yourself versus having help from others?

 

[DietDrThunder]

I was the same way. I was basically kicked out at 18, worked in a warehouse driving a forklift, then got my CDL. I got tired of being on the road, so I got a lesser paying job working in another warehouse and went to Junior college at night, followed by getting my 4 year degree at the local university. It took me 13 years to get through college, and I got married, and moved into a house during this timeframe. I did every kind of repair imaginable myself on cars, house, myself, etc. I stitched myself up instead of going to an emergency room and I got better at it over time. I used JB Weld to replace a filling that came out of one of my molars. When I finally got a good paying job with benefits, I went to the dentist to have it fixed, but he said he'd do more damage than good trying to get it all out, so he just left it.

Now I make good money, but coming from a family that didn't have much money, and not having much after I left home, my old spending habits are hard to break. I'm in the middle of fixing a 7 foot long ceiling crack. I've a back door with frame that is rotted at the bottom from rain, which I will be replacing myself once the weather is right, and I have two fence posts to dig up and replace from the wind storm that blew in a couple of weeks ago. I can afford to pay someone to do this work, but have a hard time justifying the expense to myself. My wife thinks I'm nuts. I did have to find a shop to take our car to in order to fix a leak I just couldn't find. But the way they build cars today, unless it is routine maintenance, cars are almost impossible to work on.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Ehh, I work enough that I don't wanna do more work when I get home. I do easy things that are hard to screw up or don't take a lot of time. For some things, I will hire my brother, brother in law, uncle, or cousin who are competant handymen or shadetree mechanics. For complex things, I'll reach out to a professional.

 

[highland145]

If my skill in that area sucks and I have to look at it every day, I pay.

Edit: There's some old saying about saving $ today and regretting forever.

 

[lxskllr]

I do stuff myself unless I don't want to. I don't enjoy mechanical work. I'm not that good at it, but I'm good enough to get by, and cheaper than taking it to a shop, even with my occasional screwup. I seldom do mechanical work, but will if I have to, or if it's more convenient. I won't pay people to do trivial stuff, like mowing lawns, or whatever. I despise the job, but the cost to pay someone else outweighs my laziness.

 

[rommelrommel]

I do a lot of stuff but I know my limitations. I will work on my 13 year old truck, but will only do basics on my wife’s new truck. I change light fixtures, built some steps, etc but hired someone to reno by bathroom. If I can buy a tool and watch some YouTube for the price of having something done professionally, I’ll probably do it myself and have the tool for next time. I have to remind myself sometimes that I can go work overtime for $80 an hour whenever I want so paying a pro is usually a better use of my time, especially on big jobs that I don’t have a particular desire to do myself.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Most things I will DIY, but there are some things where I feel it's worth paying someone. Anything that is time sensitive like roof related work or anything that has to be done in the weather, I rather pay someone. Anything like electrical, framing etc I rather do myself.

Car stuff, I rather pay someone, as I don't have a big enough garage to work on a car and don't really want to be working in the weather. Cold, or too hot, or rain etc... no thanks. I'll pay someone. I would like to eventually learn to work on cars but need a bigger property so I can build a big shop. It would be cool to have project cars and stuff going.

 

[Exterous]

I'll do most things myself up to a point. This lets us do more things around the house without needing to make the decision between a home repair\improvement or a trip. It's also way easier to improve your ROI by doing the work yourself instead of paying someone. I don't mind the work and I am way more of a perfectionist than many of the contractors work I have seen

 

[Chaotic42]

I calculate how much it would cost me to do stuff properly (time and a half since it's over 40 hours) and compare that to the quoted cost. Unless it's something I feel that I want to learn to do, I try to value my time off. Worst case I could work more hours to cover the cost of whatever it is.

 

[TheVrolok]

Definitely depends on what it is. I do a lot of DIY in many areas as I enjoy learning and am fairly capable. However, I think there is often a difference between being able to DIY something, and being able to do that thing well. So it will often depend on how well I want it done.

Could I renovate my bathroom? Yeah, I probably could. Would the tile work look great? I doubt it, and it's not something I want a "passable" job on.

 

[highland145]

Could I renovate my bathroom? Yeah, I probably could. Would the tile work look great? I doubt it, and it's not something I want a "passable" job on.

Simple tile job (level and straight), I can do. Sheetrock...let's just say I have to buy mud by the 5 gallon bucket.

 

[purbeast0]

I'm a software engineer and it's just in my nature to figure out things and understand why things work, so I tend to DIY a lot of my own stuff. It could be from little things to larger things. That said, I also know when I am out of my element and will get a professional to do the work and am willing to pay for it as well.

 

[Viper GTS]

My general view is that while I'm almost certainly capable of learning how to do most of the trades type stuff I am absolutely not capable of learning to live with my first attempt results.

I want it done properly the first time which means it's worth paying the guy who has done this 1000 times in the last 5 years.

If it's something I have specific interest in that changes the math but if it's something I'm never going to want to do again I'll far sooner hire a pro.

Viper GTS