In article , User Example says...

Charming.

Do you need to do this to feel good about yourself? Mebbe after seeing the same
color latex slathered all over your house, ceiling, walls, and moulding? Or
something like that?

If you're so super-skilled (or, alternatively, your family has acquiesced to
amateurish repairs and work), great. You're set.

So - here's the question - why are you here berating everyone? What are you
getting out of it?? You shoudln't have enough time, what with planning your
vacations and all...

My theory - the one who has the skills to DIY *well*, is just the guy or gal to
appreciate a good professional job. But he does it himself, for the reasons I
listed in my other post, like, he likes to do it. And knows the effort and
planning and problem-solving that goes into it. Painting's my thing.
Tradespeople I know who see my house assume it's been done professionally; and I
do it for friends. But there's still been a job or too I hired out. Why?
Because I appreciate the time and skill it takes to do it right, and I didn't
have time for doing it right.

Based on my theory, a guy who lambasts everyone who *doesn't* DIY and people in
the trades, would have as characteristics, by comparison....
..the rest to be left as an exercise for the reader.

Cheers,
Banty


All I am saying is that you will generally pay too much for someone else
to do the job for you because you pay for everyone from the low paid
laborer to the secretary, all the supplies, all the petty licenses,
insurance, "extra costs just so the head guy can sip cock tails",
"experience costs", etc. Call someone to do some work and you are
helping to put someones kid through college. It's all business and
there is nothing wrong with it if that's what you want to do. All I am
saying is that you can do a lot of that work yourself and you can
probably do it as well or better if you research and plan accordingly.
For some people this is easy to do. For some it is hard. If it is
hard, then I guess you just have to pay someone to do it. That's tough.
But if you are at all handy you can figure out most of the stuff if you
want. Sure, there are times it's easier to just hire someone, and
sometimes I do. But that is not what I was getting at. What I was
bitching and moaning about is when someone needs to replace a sink
faucet or something else and people on here tell them to hire a good
plumber to do it. Well, you don't need a plumber to replace a faucet
unless you are an idiot. You can take the $100 you saved an go out to
dinner and a movie and whatever. That's just being smart. It takes
less time to do it yourself than to hire someone then wait for them to
come while you have to take off work and then call them back because
they put it on crooked or whatever. I am berating those that choose to
hire someone. I am berating the people on here that imply that it can't
be done yourself if you just take the time to try. But screw it, I am
done trying to convince people they can save money if they want. Let
them waste it along with the money they throw away on gas in their Ford
Expedition.

OK now you're being more reasonable.

So, I say - sure, I agree with what you're saying! I'd wager most folks do as
far as this - it's simple really, because you're substituting your own labor for
paid labor. I think just about everyone here knows that they can save money by
substituting their own labor for it.

But, then, it comes right down to what value one puts on one's own time.
Especially considering that, when *I* do, say, a simple plumbing repair, I'll be
spending a morning stumbling through it (BTDT), while a pro would stroll in and
do it in 15 min. Now for a small plumbing job, the overhead they'd charge still
makes that reasonable.

But for my upcoming kitchen remod? No way Jose, a pro will be doing that.

The painting/staining followup to that? That will be me
The wallpapering? When I grow a third arm, I'll be taking that over from the
pros.. (I've gotten a friend to help me - warning! - friends dont' always have
the standards a person has.)

But here's the other reason I go with a pro when I go with a pro - EXPERIENCE.
An experienced contractor has seen hundreds of jobs, can look at my job and
anticipate the problems (I'll be knocking out what used to be an exterior wall
for this kitchen remod, fer instance, don't want house to go splat...), KNOWS
the tools, HAS the tools, KNOWS the materials, and has the experience and knack
to go through the work smoothly. While I go and make my living in the meantime.

See - about your time - have you considered that that time is time that you
might be spending with family and friends? Or getting a notch or two further up
your career ladder? I'm not saying what you're doing is a bad use of your time
- I don't know the particulars and, like I said in another post, that you get a
lot of satisfaction (evidently) and probably ENJOY doing the DIY counts in the
plus-column for you. But it's not so simple as how you present it - how you
present it is basically, you're putting ZERO value on your time. Then, berating
US for puttng an actual $$$ value on our time.

THe other thing is - you seem to go far beyond just pointing out that
contractors are making a living doing what they do (living, yes, means colleges
for their kids and Expeditions should they choose). You seem to resent them for
it. To me, it's a duh - OF COURSE they're putting their kids through college
and having their friends over for a few drinks with the money I pay them. My
firm has been doing the same for me for 28 years! Jees.


Banty