I spend a lot of time fixing things, for myself and others. (Computers, electrical, plumbing, etc). While I learn a lot, I wonder sometimes if it would be better to pay a professional and do something else for which I am more ‘valuable’. Do you do the same, and do you find it worthwhile?
Unless you’re actually using the time that it frees up to make more money, that’s not a useful exercise. If you’re just thinking that you could make more money, but you didn’t actually do it, then you’re just paying to have time to - whatever it is that you do with that time. Which could still be valid, but it’s a different judgment proposition.
I enjoy fixing things, even other people’s shit, so I categorize that time as entertainment instead of work. It’s time I’d otherwise be using to doomscroll on Lemmy.
It varies.
In most cases it’s more a question of “What is the risk if I do this myself?” and “If I completely fuck this up, is it going to cost more to fix than just calling someone who knows what they’re doing before that happens?”
If the answer to the above doesn’t involve a fire in my walls or serious water damage like with electical or plumbing, and the cost to fix mistakes is low, then sure, I’ll try it myself first.
Interesting, my dad is often complaining about the opposite, what is the risk if he let’s it do someone else? It’s because he has reasons to make things in a particular way which some professionals dismiss and do differently. And then he finds out way too late and then can’t really do what he planned or it involves a lot of extra work to work around the limitation.
I get this too. However, you’ll usually be able to tell the professionals your end goal during the quoting process and if your requirements are reasonable, they’ll work with you.
If they won’t do that, then you get to ask yourself the next question:
- Do they have a good reason to refuse? (safety [either theirs or yours], regulations, etc)
If not, then you can just refuse the quote and work with someone else.
More often than not, the professionals know what they’re doing and will be able to work around your requirements, and if they can’t, they’ll have competitors that can.
Generally speaking I do things myself because it’s cheaper, in that it lets me allocate cash in higher quality versions of things than I would otherwise be able to afford. I grew up pretty poor and that was how my family did things. Car breaks, that’s why you buy a Chilton’s. Appliance isn’t working? You can always order the part for a tenth of what it costs to have the appliance guy tell you what’s wrong. AC quit working? Those capacitors are super easy to replace and only cost $7.
Now I could pay people to do more things for me, but it’s only under certain circumstances.
Sometimes it just boils down to something my Dad told me underneath a car (or a house maybe) like 30 years ago: “Nobody is gonna care about your shit more than you do.”
If you go by my job then it works out to about $15 an hour. That’s my wage x hours worked per day \ 24. But that’s not very useful since there are stituations where i choose to spend my time instead of hire a professional “less”.
But personally I value my time differently based on the activity. If I like the activity my time is worth very little but if I hate the activity it can be expensive. I’d rather spend 3 days figuring out how to do something myself than hire a professional because I find the process of learning and DIY to be very fun and fulfilling. But at the same time I’d rather pay to have my house cleaned even though it would be easy and cheaper for me to clean it myself.
If the request is helping a friend in need then my time is free no matter how much I hate the activity.
