Plumbers, A/C repairmen, electricians, bug killers, and anyone else that
will come to your house to do their job is going to charge you too much
for the work.


You just wrote that anyone that comes to your house is going to charge
you too much. What are you suggesting? Bring the bathroom to them?

Nothing like a blanket statement to start off a post. It immediately
let's people know where you stand so they can determine if they want to
keep reading or not.

Well, it looks like you determined that you want to read it. Matter of
fact, you even took time to critique everything I said.


You are paying for the worker, his supervisor, the people
who subcontracted them, the secretary, their "experience",


You left out materials. Besides the labor and subs, the other things
are called overhead - the cost of doing business. You left out
insurance, licensing, vehicles and other equipment, etc., etc.

Yes, that is my point exactly... stuff that as a DIYer you don't have to
pay for.


and some
extra just to rip you off.


I'm not sure if you're talking about profit, contingency amounts or
gouging. Of course it could just be that whatever amount they charged
would be too much for you.


When you figure out the cost of time and materials and compare that to
what they charge you, there will always be a big gap. Where does that
money go? It certainly isn't going to the work they do on your house
and that is a rip off.



Some of the work they do takes skill and some things they can do better
because they know some tricks of the trade. But for the most part there
isn't anything that you can't do as well or better. They will almost
always rush a job. You have the luxury of taking our time.


Taking what could be excessive amounts of time to complete a task is
not doing a better job. If you ignore time, and look at just the
quality of the work, it's still doubtful that a novice, in any line of
work, could perform work better than someone who has done it hundreds
or thousands of times before. If you believe otherwise, it's either
your ego talking or you really don't know how to evaluate the work
being done.

I have had some good work done and some bad work done. In general, high
skilled work like A/C work gets done well. Low skilled work like
painting and carpentry gets done sub par. But in the end, it's a gamble
and usually never perfect. And perfection is what I expect when I am
paying for it.



Bottom line, if you want quality work at a modest price then you are
going to have to do it yourself.


My time is worth more than your average tradesman's hourly rate. If
you consider your own time to have no value, then you're right, doing
your own work will be a modest price. This is the standard
self-deluding position of most people that crow about their savings
doing their own work. If you factor in the time it takes them to do
the work, multiply that by how much they earn at their regular job and
add that to the project cost, there is rarely a savings. Unless the
person earns very little to start with.


Well, I wasn't implying that you should do the job during your working
hours. If you do it during that time when you are usually jerking off
or wasting time analyzing peoples USENET posts then I am not so sure
your time is worth more... but then again, maybe you value that jerking
time.


You can find people to hire that will
do excellent work but they will overcharge the heck out of you.


Finishing off your post with another obviously fallacious blanket
statement always helps people classify your position

Call it what you want but it is generally true. I don't have time to
quantify every statement and place disclaimers on everything I say.
Maybe you do, or is your time too valuable?