A job that takes a professional half a day could take me a whole weekend.
But having to play “how likely are they to fuck it up, and how much of a pain will it be to fix” drives me up the wall so much, I often just buy the tool and do it myself.
My time to do it: 15 hours, plus £200 in materials.
Cheap tradesman: 8 hours, £450 total, non-zero chance I’ll have to rip it out and re-do it myself anyway.
Specialist tradesman : 5 hours, £900-1200 total.
So it either ends up being lots of work, a gamble, or lots of money. Quick, good, cheap, pick two!
I’m a good amateur mechanic. But I cant guarantee I wont order the wrong part, be sent the wrong part, have misdiagnosed the problem, the job turns out to be a nightmare etc… So as long as the other one is running, I have time and ability to sort it out.
This pretty much sums up my view of contractors. I know enough about home improvement these days, after years of DIY, I could probably get a job as a subcontractor.
This is why I end up doing so much DIY.
A job that takes a professional half a day could take me a whole weekend.
But having to play “how likely are they to fuck it up, and how much of a pain will it be to fix” drives me up the wall so much, I often just buy the tool and do it myself.
My time to do it: 15 hours, plus £200 in materials.
Cheap tradesman: 8 hours, £450 total, non-zero chance I’ll have to rip it out and re-do it myself anyway.
Specialist tradesman : 5 hours, £900-1200 total.
So it either ends up being lots of work, a gamble, or lots of money. Quick, good, cheap, pick two!
This is also why I own 2 shitbox cars.
I’m a good amateur mechanic. But I cant guarantee I wont order the wrong part, be sent the wrong part, have misdiagnosed the problem, the job turns out to be a nightmare etc… So as long as the other one is running, I have time and ability to sort it out.
This pretty much sums up my view of contractors. I know enough about home improvement these days, after years of DIY, I could probably get a job as a subcontractor.