Wherever possible, learn to fix it yourself. The cost of acquiring the proper tools is usually less than the fee charged by professionals. Your experience?
by 
palmagma
ANSWERS: 9
-
The cost of a kitchen remodel: upwards of $2500. The cost of having all ten digits intact: priceless.
-
You left out one very important section of your question. Its great to go rent the tools to "fix it yourself". But, what if you do not know what you are doing and electrocute yourself? Did you know that water and electricity do not mix? Many people do not know this and some "do it yourselfers" could be heading for a tragedy. Which is cheaper? a professional or a funeral?
-
Almost always true, unless it's highly specialized equipment. +4
-
I finally learned to appreciate the male brain when this occurred in my life. I live where I can pay a wonderful Italian fair priced man and get a lot of fixing done for a reasonable price. I've watched him enough to do a lot of it myself now too. That's how I roll, baby!
-
If something comes in two pieces, I can't figure it out. I thought I'd save money and do things myself, but I am utterly incapable of not screwing it up totally the first time. I'd buy the parts and the tools, then go buy the parts again, and the pro could have done it for 10-15% cheaper. So I just call the man.
-
Most of the time this is true, but some things are better left to a professional who makes it his or her business to know all the ins and outs, such as residential electrical work. I would no more trust myself to do that sort of thing than I would trust my youngest grandson to do it.
-
It usually costs you the expense of the tool purchase plus the expense of the expert to undo the damage you've done plus fix the problem. Cheaper to just call the expert in the first place! :)
-
a guy i worked with had a picture of sgt striker (john wayne) on top of hill at iwo jima that said, "life's tough. it's tougher if you're stupid." i must qualify for tougherestest! i can't pull out single piece toys from their boxes because of the 18 wires and staples assuring security for that $1.00 toy! i used to have a great older gentleman / plumber who instilled confidence, identified and fixed problems quickly, and charged a reasonable fee. once, he couldn't come, so i called the next plumber down the yellow pages. he sent his "apprentice" 19 year old hot shot who spent 5 minutes at our house, gave up and told us we needed to replace the tub and he'd do it for $(obscenity). strapped to his right side was a meter that counted the tenths of seconds that he was on my call. waste!!! i waited, called the old guy back, and saved $3,000. so, experienced professionals are great and worth every penny AS LONG AS they're not greedy!
-
Yes. Make sure you get good, quality tools. Nothing is worse than cheap tools!
RELATED QUESTIONS
Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC