How do you calculate DIY vs. hiring someone?

[jpcjguy]

Hi all,

So now that I am in the "final stages" of my garage build, I was wondering how everyone calculates DIY vs. hiring someone.
For example, I just had 80 tons of gravel delivered for around my garage. A buddy came over with his tractor and box blade and we spread it and I used my plate compactor throughout the process. Each load was 20 tons and cost me on average $500 with $100 of that being delivery charge.
Right off the bat, I thought doing all the spreading and such saved me money but upon reflection I started to wonder.....
For example, I paid about $400 for delivery charges (100 per load) and paid "retail" for the crusher run and #57 stone. If I paid someone to do it and they had their own truck, the delivery is not an "upfront" cost for them. Also, what is their discount on the stone as a contractor? Could it have been 20%?
Doing some simple math, $2000 - $400 delivery = $1600 for the stone. 20% discount on that is $1280.
So that is $720 that is either absorbed by the contractor or part of the "profit" (I realize there are many expenses of running the business that exist but trying to keep this higher level for estimating DIY purposes).
I also realize that having a contractor(s) estimate on every job is not realistic or fair to them if you have no intention of hiring the work out, so for the sake of high level estimating what do you all do?
Do you look at the retail price of materials and figure a 10 or 20% contractor discount and then just estimate if someone would realistically do the job for the material savings?
Going back to my example, I don't believe someone would bring a truck/trailer with the tractor(and implements to spread) and another truck (quad axle dump in my case) for 4 loads throughout the day for $720 (if they got 20% discount on material). Maybe I am wrong?

Just curious on what other factors you take into consideration - special tools needed, permits, expert knowledge, risk factor for having to "redo", etc.

 

[matt_i]

I might not be in the majority but I look at it thru the lens of: if I want it done right I will do it myself.

Unless exotic equipment is required that I can't rent.

So I don't even worry about trying to cost compare. I know I'm better off.

But to your point of discussion, I'm guessing you'd have a charge of $200-500 for the contractor to bring their equipment to the site, $400 labor ($50*8) plus whatever they would pay for the stone. They might not save a lot on stone but likely wouldn't pay tax on it.

 

[u2slow]

Going large-scale is better value overall. But I can't plan ahead that well, and never have a big lump of money to spend.

A $40-50 pickuptruck load, and my own shovel/wheelbarrow program is self-limiting. My body doesn't like than more than once per week.

For other projects....

Figuring a contractor needs to charge out his time approx triple my wage, and I pay a third of my income to taxes... I use 4.5x as the value ratio. Plus, I may get further savings on material vs what the contractor charges me for it.

So long as I don't take more that 3 times as long as a contractor, I'm saving money.

 

[Homerr]

...
Just curious on what other factors you take into consideration - special tools needed, permits, expert knowledge, risk factor for having to "redo", etc.

Maybe a somewhat oblique answer to your line of reasoning, but here's my take.

A few months ago I watched a driveway be redone from some scrappy asphalt to new pavers. The crew dug down about 12" and did a proper job of rock and sand bases, all compacted; redid some drainage; and redid some steps to the front door up over a rockery. It was 5 guys working their asses off for 6.5 days and they were working 9 hours each day for around 290 man-hours. The homeowner told me he paid $22k in total which included about $4.5k for the concrete pavers. That works out to around $60/hr paid to the landscape company.

But what other factor go me thinking? I initially had in the back of my mind that this was a technically easier type of job and I've been thinking about redoing my patio which is about 2/3 the size in a similar way. But after seeing the crew work, and like I said these guys were not taking hardly any breaks and were really on it the entire time, I started to change my thinking from DIY to hiring a crew. I work a 40 hour desk job and am approaching age 50, so not in the greatest physical specimen at the moment.

Figuring I could do two ten hour days on each weekend and average 2 hours a day for 3 weekdays per week that is 26 hours a week I can do, ideally. My job is about about 2/3 the size, so about 195 hours at the crew's pace. So that's 7.5 weeks for me to do it. But I am going to get tired at some point and need a weekend off here and there. Figure that I'm maybe 80% efficient as the crew, these were guys in their late twenties and early thirties. And I better not injure myself or all bets are off. So 12 weeks was probably more realistic.

That's 12 weeks of my backyard torn up and in chaos. About 10 weeks of my wife asking when will it be done? The wife aggro would certainly build by the end of the project too. A whole summer shot with one project. Or I could just 'write the check' and it's done in a week, which is looking really good to do now.

I'm really looking at jobs I can do in 50 hours or less at this point. Anything larger and time, wife aggro, and risk of injury start to weigh in as factors for me now.

 

[jpcjguy]

Excellent points everyone! Again - no right or wrong answer - just a good discussion.

Homerr - I am in a similar point of life as you - 48 with a desk job. That is why I ended up hiring a GC to build a finished exterior shell and I am tackling the smaller interior work like framing the 1/2 bath, plumbing, and electrical work. Yes it is taking longer, but I am not at the mercy of rain (inside work) and the building does look finished to the wife

ducksface - good points also - especially the statements "If I can be doing something of greater value while someone does the something of lesser value" and "understanding the community and helping to make it thrive." However, since philosophical and ideology points are subjective,
I don't want to go down the road of "value of Gilligan Islands re-runs"...

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Often it's my own motivation.
BTW: paying someone to do it wrong is motivation for DIY.

 

[vavet]

I hate painting rooms. It's always worth it for me to pay someone to paint.
I started a thread several months ago about paying someone to finish the drywall in my garage. I got most of the drywall hung with some friends, but then had to stop because of a back injury. I finally called a drywall man. When it was all done, drywall hung, taped, mudded, and painted, I asked him how much he would've charged if I'd brought him in to start. I saved about $500 by the time I figured what I paid for drywall and I had at least 30 hours of my own time and probably another 25 hours from friends. Totally not worth it.

I also have consider not how much I'm paying a pro per hour, but how many hours I'm saving myself. I might pay you $20 for 30 minutes of work, but it would've taken me 4 hours because of the research, learning curve, buying supplies, mistake rework, etc. I don't think of that as paying you $40 an hour. I think of me not paying myself $5 an hour.

 

[jpcjguy]

I hate painting rooms. It's always worth it for me to pay someone to paint.
I started a thread several months ago about paying someone to finish the drywall in my garage. I got most of the drywall hung with some friends, but then had to stop because of a back injury. I finally called a drywall man. When it was all done, drywall hung, taped, mudded, and painted, I asked him how much he would've charged if I'd brought him in to start. I saved about $500 by the time I figured what I paid for drywall and I had at least 30 hours of my own time and probably another 25 hours from friends. Totally not worth it.

Yeah - I am going to hire out the drywall, from everyone's advice - if you are not an expert, hire it out. You will save a ton of time and get a better job.

But not to derail the original intent of the thread - reasonable estimating without potentially wasting a contractor's time - how do you do it?

 

[pmiranda]

There are some things I actually enjoy DIY for building my own skills and relaxing. I absolutely hate paying somebody to do a worse job than I can do.
It usually comes down to
What else do I need to be doing with my time?
How soon do I need this done?
How big of a PITA is it to find somebody to do this right?

There are a lot of small jobs around the house that I can do faster and easier than finding somebody else that can do it well.

I am paying a good crew to do a ton of work on the new shop I'm not remotely qualified or equipped to DIY: moving dirt, digging foundation, digging 300 feet of trench, pouring and finishing over 4000 sqft of concrete, erecting a 21 foot tall clear span metal building and insulating over 5500sqft of wall and roof, installing overhead doors. Getting dried in within a month.
Most of the electrical and interior finish I'll DIY because I know how, there's no hurry, and I don't need to buy alot of new tools to make it happen.

 

[ddurrett896]

Time.

Paid $400 to have a crane bring up like 22 trusses and got them up and braced in 1.5 hours.

Manually, would have taken probably an additional 8 hours between lunch and slowing down towards the end of the day. $50 an hour to not grunt trusses 11' over my head, risking the truss getting damaged and us getting hurt - no brainier.

On the other side, my wife wants to pay someone a couple hundred to get our flower beds cleaned up and mulched and I don't let her.

 

[MattRMagnum]

When calculating costs of a project you did versus hiring a contractor, don't forget to bill your own hours. If your hourly salary is $20/hr, and you spend 8-10 hours working on a Saturday, make sure to add that $160-200 to the total.

My biggest criteria is time. I've a sunroom renovation coming up, once this pandemic business ends. The work itself is, honestly, super easy: remove and replace existing damaged support beams, and then replace damaged siding. If I do it myself, it'll probably take a month (probably can only commit 4-6 hours/weekend to it, and expecting to lose at least one weekend to it raining when I need to work outside). I expect I'll pay about $3k to have a contractor do the work, but it'll be done in a single weekend, and I can spend that weekend working on an old Mercedes and cussing (you know, how I like spending my weekends) about bizarre wrench needs.

 

[jpcjguy]

When calculating costs of a project you did versus hiring a contractor, don't forget to bill your own hours. If your hourly salary is $20/hr, and you spend 8-10 hours working on a Saturday, make sure to add that $160-200 to the total.

I agree that your time is worth something - and that is variable to everyone's personal situation - how much you make at your "day job" and how you value your time (priority of binge watching the latest Ozark season or M.A.S.H re-runs.)

so for jobs that are not straight forward and would require a contractor to visit to provide a quote - how do you estimate that to decide whether or not to tackle the job? Like for me, as an IT project manager, I have no clue what trades charge or what is reasonable for a particular job.
For example, I am doing the plumbing for my 1/2 bath - I can figure out the rough cost of materials in terms of pipe, connectors, gaskets, glues, etc. but how to get an idea of what a contractor would cost. It is not a big job, but they still have to drive here, might not have a correct fitting and have to use time to get one, they also probably get a discount on materials, etc. Lots of variables. So lets say it might cost me $100 for materials at HD or Lowes. How do you figure what the contractor would charge to determine value? $400 for the visit because it takes him 2 hours? He also would not pay $100 for the materials -maybe $75? Maybe it is not 2 hours - maybe 1 or 3-4? again not an expert in the trades.
Unfortunately this is not like the auto industry where there is "book" time for a job and pretty straightforward costs for a part(s).

 

[dr_clyde]

I take no pride in mundane labor.
If I know enough to do a job, I probably know enough to hire a professional to do the job.

I often find it kind of belittling and arrogant here when we have building maintaining type guys calling themselves engineers and plain old folk always thinking only they can do the job better Than anyone else.

It's gravel.
There's no pride in spreading gravel.
It's a large hole. There's no pride in digging it by hand instead of hiring a backhoe.
There is certainly no pride in paying yourself $4prhr while you hand mix and pour a patio floor.
(please, everyone use some common sense and EXTRAPOLATE the gist and generalization of the examples I use here instead of going all: so you'd call a backhoe to plant carrots)


Change the water pump on my f150?
Pahleez. Any r and r goof can do it.
I'm sure I'd rather watch Gilligan island reruns than decide to prove myself equal or better to an r and r high-school kid. He has a job. I'm happy he's at the shop learning.
You have your charities, I have mine.
Being charitable doesn't solely mean giving a dollar to a corner dweller. It means understanding the community and helping to make it thrive.

If you're monetarily broke, by all means.
If you have the monetary means, by all else.

My rule is:
Why, to save $200 labor, would I deprive a craftsman from a living if I might be forced to need him later, and he's not there.

I have two kids working for me right now.
We picked up scattered rocks and put them in the tractor bucket, dumped them and made a water break.
12hrs labor, done in four hours by three of us.
Wouldn't you rather be doing something of more value than spreading gravel or fiddle dicking with a $23 carb rebuild kit for a $15 carb?
I would.
And that's how I weight it all.
If I can be doing something of greater value while someone does the something of lesser value.

This very much mirrors my own thinking.

I hire out most everything I can, unless I enjoy it or can do it significantly better or faster than a contractor.

My free time is VERY valuable, as it is VERY scarce. I would much rather pay a qualified and competent contractor to do what they're good at and spend my free time relaxing in my house or whatever.

I don't take any joy in fixing my daily driver, especially when I can pay someone who is faster, better, more knowledgeable, and does it every day. Yeah, I can do most common repairs, but why should I? I worked in auto repair for a few years. I've done enough brakes and clutches to last me my lifetime. I'll pay the man.

 

[Toolfool]

As a GC for 35 years I've had numerous customers ask "If we did 'this' or 'that' part of the job how much could we save ?" My answer was always "The best thing for both of us is for you to do what you do for a living and let me do what I do." I'm retired now. I'll still do as much of the framing as I can on my upcoming shop build, but I'll hire out the concrete work, roof, insulation, drywall, even though I've done all those things, but can't be as efficient as the fulltime guys anymore.
The 'calculation' isn't about dollars, it's about time value.

 

[nadogail]

said....."The 'calculation' isn't about dollars, it's about time value.

I paid to have the exterior of my house painted. After discounting what I could have bought the paint myself for. I figured that I paid $1,500 to have professionals paint a two story 2400 Square foot house with only 3 ' between the house and the side fences. That job, in addition to my fulltime dayjob would have taken me weeks to do when I include erecting and dismanteling the scaffolding.

I bought a summer for only $1,500 dollars and had the energy to work some overtime to help pay for the job.

Also, when I hire a professional to do a job I have somebody else to blame if the work was not done to a bystander's idea of perfection.

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

As time goes by the arrow is moving from DIY to Hire_It_Out for many projects. I used to do everything - but as I age I'm less able and it takes longer to bounce back.

Roof, soffits and gutters on the house - Hired it out last month! Done in 2 days.

Gravel parking pad for 2 cars next to garage - DIY'ed it 2 weekends ago. Done in 2 days.

I'm thinking of DIY-ing the replacement of the deck boards and railings on my deck this summer.

I'm thinking of hiring out the painting of the exterior of the house this summer.

Cheers

Jim

 

[misterfixit]

My opinions here, For me it comes down to 4 things, 1-how much do I not want to do that particular thing, 2-how easy/fast would it be for me to do the thing, 3-what is the quality of the finished thing/work doing myself vs having it done, and 4-how much money and/or time do I save by doing it myself.

I'll hire out hanging sheet rock because it is hard and I don't like doing it and it takes me so much longer to do it than a pro.
I'll do my own framing (mostly) because I have all the tools and knowledge and it doesn't take significantly longer doing it myself.
I don't mind working hard if I'm saving a good bit of money either. Basically I don't look at like I put a value on my time and if I can't make $X/hour it's not worth it, but rather I look at it in that I can save $X if I do the work. If that savings is enough and the other rules don't make it a losing situation, I do it myself.
hope that makes sense.

 

[Dumber than lumber]

To the OP
You are overthinking it.
Unless you are an accountant or an engineer.
If that is the case you have my deepest sympathy.

 

[GA_Brown]

1. Can I do the work?
2. Do I want to do the work?
3. What will someone charge to do the work?

My last project was replacing 45 feet of fascia & soffit, replacing 24 feet of 2x8 roof decking and laying 3 bundles of shingles. Roofer wanted $6k. Materials were $500, I’m retired so my time is not worth a lot, so I did it myself. I did not really want to do it but I had to ask if my time was worth $5,500.

 

[gabeancounter]

You are overthinking it.
Unless you are an accountant or an engineer.
If that is the case you have my deepest sympathy.

lol....I appreciate your sympathy.

As a fellow desk jockey, I have built two homes in the last 10 years. I realized on the first house using my time to find the best prices on materials and quoting the labor out was the best value. Trying to do painting, plumbing, flooring etc. was a mistake.

The guys doing a trade everyday are 3-5 times faster than you'll be. Just keeping up with the site clean-up, scheduling, and all the misc items is more than you'll be able to handle.

I've taken that approach to all other large projects, by doing what I do best. Work the phone and PC to get it done! Keeping up with general maintenance on my vehicles, house, lawn etc and spending tme with the kids takes all my time off.

 

[Ralf11]

I take their bid and divide by an idiocy factor based on the general quality of contractors here (low, for some reason), then multiply by how well I know them or know who recommended them to me.

Then I subtract off the back pain I'll have if I DIY.

The result usually approximates "IF ladder THEN them ELSE me."

 

[topcok88]

I only do what I want to do. Example:

I don’t mow my own lawn because I don’t want to.

I will choose to spend ten times as much if I get to buy a tool out of it I want.

I choose to bid out projects I physically can not do - in-ground pool, concrete driveway, etc.


Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[PhantomEB]

I used to justify I can try to do anything within reason. Now I justify some things are left to the professionals. So want to get the basement mudded and taped but I want it done best as possible.

As for my garage, it was an excavation/forming/concrete pour done by a concrete crew, way better job done faster and efficiently than any garage builder company would be. Waited my 21 days then scheduled my buddies who are framers by trade, had it up in 1.5 days...woulda taken me a month plus to do myself. Then a garage door buddy who came installed the door and opener. Same thing with shingles and siding. Took me 6 weeks total.

 

[Rc_Guy]

Hi all,

So now that I am in the "final stages" of my garage build, I was wondering how everyone calculates DIY vs. hiring someone.
For example, I just had 80 tons of gravel delivered for around my garage. A buddy came over with his tractor and box blade and we spread it and I used my plate compactor throughout the process. Each load was 20 tons and cost me on average $500 with $100 of that being delivery charge.
Right off the bat, I thought doing all the spreading and such saved me money but upon reflection I started to wonder.....
For example, I paid about $400 for delivery charges (100 per load) and paid "retail" for the crusher run and #57 stone. If I paid someone to do it and they had their own truck, the delivery is not an "upfront" cost for them. Also, what is their discount on the stone as a contractor? Could it have been 20%?
Doing some simple math, $2000 - $400 delivery = $1600 for the stone. 20% discount on that is $1280.
So that is $720 that is either absorbed by the contractor or part of the "profit" (I realize there are many expenses of running the business that exist but trying to keep this higher level for estimating DIY purposes).
I also realize that having a contractor(s) estimate on every job is not realistic or fair to them if you have no intention of hiring the work out, so for the sake of high level estimating what do you all do?
Do you look at the retail price of materials and figure a 10 or 20% contractor discount and then just estimate if someone would realistically do the job for the material savings?
Going back to my example, I don't believe someone would bring a truck/trailer with the tractor(and implements to spread) and another truck (quad axle dump in my case) for 4 loads throughout the day for $720 (if they got 20% discount on material). Maybe I am wrong?

Just curious on what other factors you take into consideration - special tools needed, permits, expert knowledge, risk factor for having to "redo", etc.

If you paid someone and they got the rock 20% less, do you really think they would pass the discount on to you?

 

[scottydosnntkno]

I might not be in the majority but I look at it thru the lens of: if I want it done right I will do it myself.

Unless exotic equipment is required that I can't rent.

So I don't even worry about trying to cost compare. I know I'm better off.

But to your point of discussion, I'm guessing you'd have a charge of $200-500 for the contractor to bring their equipment to the site, $400 labor ($50*8) plus whatever they would pay for the stone. They might not save a lot on stone but likely wouldn't pay tax on it.

then you would be paying the tax on the stone on the final bill, however it works out. whether you see it or not on the final bill, any legit contractor is either paying sales tax when they buy it, or buying it tax free, marking it up, and paying tax on the marked up price when you pay them.

just because your a contractor, does not make your materials "tax free". sales tax is paid one way or the other, every time.

im a contractor, and 99% of the time pay tax when i buy the materials, as i don't mark them up. i make my money on the labor.

its a whole lot less bookeeping to have a receipt that i bought $100 in materials, paid the 6% MI tax, so i paid $106. i charge $100/hour, times 8 hours a day is $800 so i bill the customer $906. if i marked up the material 50%, i would have to have a tax exempt form on file at the supplier if they even take one, note your receipt to your PO/invoice, separate the line item for the material @150/load, x 6% = $9 in sales tax now owed. which would have the be a separete line item on the invoice. so it would now say labor $800, materials $150, sales tax $9. then i would collect it, and pay it quarterly or monthly depending on how your set up.

 

[Rc_Guy]

I might not be in the majority but I look at it thru the lens of: if I want it done right I will do it myself.

Unless exotic equipment is required that I can't rent.

So I don't even worry about trying to cost compare. I know I'm better off.

But to your point of discussion, I'm guessing you'd have a charge of $200-500 for the contractor to bring their equipment to the site, $400 labor ($50*8) plus whatever they would pay for the stone. They might not save a lot on stone but likely wouldn't pay tax on it.

So you can do anything better than anyone else?

 

[toolmiser]

Like others have said as time goes by I do less and less. Doing a hardwood floor in a bedroom now. My body really feels it.
We had a second floor added to our house 20 years ago. Backyard neighbor was contractor. We removed old siding/soffit, new insulation, chimney removal, cleanup every day (it was spotless). After painted sheetrock we made and installed own trim, stairs. Nothing ever held the job back. I enjoy it, but it's not for everyone. Inspection dept regulates a lot of what you can or cannot do.

 

[brownbagg]

look at it like this

if you do it yourself, you can buy tools

 

[Copymutt]

Quote: Change the water pump on my f150?
Pahleez. Any r and r goof can do it.
You're on, F150 Ecoboost, timing chain driven. Keep disassembling. Oh, almost forgot it dumps coolant into the pan. Dealer rate is $$2 grand.

 

[pmiranda]

if you do it yourself, you can buy tools

Winner winner chicken dinner!
I have been wanting a scissor lift ever since I rented one. I can always sell it when I'm done (which never happens

 

[kaymccampbell]

When I worked, time was scarce and money was more plentiful. I would hire out jobs that I found unpleasant, and saved the ones I enjoyed for myself. Thing is there are very few tasks I find unpleasant. If you're moving, you're still alive.
Now that I'm retired, money is scarcer, time is plentiful, so I do almost everything.
I just dug up the muddy garbage and threw $3200 in crusher run at my driveway. I get nearer to contractor pricing, cause I've been working with this supplier for his entire adult life. If I contracted the whole job of excavation, earth moving, regrading, installing the stone, etc, it would have been 15-20K, as evidenced from 3 bids. So, yeah it paid me $10K for two weeks of exercise.

 

[kaymccampbell]

look at it like this

if you do it yourself, you can buy tools

Years ago, I bought a Toro Dingo to do a job myself. It paid for itself in the first summer. Every year since then, it has paid for itself at least once again. This year I had to throw money and time at it, and it'll still pay for itself at least twice over.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Winner winner chicken dinner!
I have been wanting a scissor lift ever since I rented one. I can always sell it when I'm done (which never happens

You'll thank yourself a hundred times, owning your own lift. I bought the Atlas 7K Kwikbay, and it paid for itself in the first two jobs. It's done so well, that it paid for recessing it flush with the floor, and the infill plates, and itself again, just this year.

 

[MattRMagnum]

so for jobs that are not straight forward and would require a contractor to visit to provide a quote - how do you estimate that to decide whether or not to tackle the job? Like for me, as an IT project manager, I have no clue what trades charge or what is reasonable for a particular job.
For example, I am doing the plumbing for my 1/2 bath -

I'm in IT myself, so I feel you on the 'not knowing reasonable rates' bit. I got burned once by taking the first bid I received, and have insisted on multiple bids ever since.

For plumbing projects, I start by with a simple question: is it plumbing in the house? If yes, then I'm handling it myself. Maybe it's different where you are, but every plumber in my area bills per hour, even for bids. Which means if I want a plumber to even come look at work, and give me an estimate? I'm out $200. Some of them offer specials where they'll do bids for "only $75" and such. If you can find a plumber who'll do bids without charging you? I'd describe the job to them over the phone, and ask them if it's something they want to bid.

As for everything else? I follow a few general guidelines:
1) Is this manual labor that will make my back hurt? If so, I double my "per hour" cost when calculating using my own labor.
2) Will I actually do it? A lot of projects that I do get bids on, I do so because I know that while I've the skills to deal with crawling under the house, and running cable, or crawling through the attic to fix a misaligned shower vent, I hate small/dark spaces, and will never do it. Thus, it gets bid out.
3) Any job over $500 gets two bids, and anything over around $1000 gets three (or more, depending upon ability to easily line-up multiple bidders).

 

[MushCreek]

I did most of the work building our house. I finished the house to a nice level of finish and high-grade materials for what a contractor wanted for a builder-grade shell. Yes, money was the big factor, but it's also quality work, attention to detail, and every inch of the place is custom, which is very expensive to have done. It was the best project I've ever done, and I really enjoyed it.


I didn't do all of the work, though. I hired out excavation and concrete. I don't have the ability or equipment. I also hired out drywall. It's hard work for a 60 y/o man, I **** at it, and I hate it.

I DIY everything I can. I once brought a Bronco II in for a new thermostat. After that, the truck kept overheating, so I began digging. I opened the gooseneck where the T-stat was supposed to be, but it wasn't there. Now I'm pissed, because I thought they sold me a non-existent T-stat. I looked under the other half of the gooseneck. Nope. WTF? On that engine, there's another similar fitting going INTO the water pump. Guess where the 'pro' put the T-stat? With the relatively cool water from the radiator, the T-stat couldn't open until the engine was basically overheated. Umm- no, I'll do it myself. Now, the wife's late model RAV4? I don't even recognize most of the stuff under the hood. I don't touch that car.

 

[Bigblockyeti]

I think for many it boils down to time vs. money. The other variables are typically perceived quality (self vs. pro), desirability of DIY (again, highly variable from person to person) and what tools does it take.

The last significant project I took on was laying down entrance surge for a makeshift driveway at my property. I started a thread on gravel hauling and the consensus was that I'm a cheap *** and should DIY or open my wallet a little more. Since I had time, a truck and a trailer, I did it myself, the gravel pit not being too far away was a consideration also. It was tough work but I was able to place the rock more accurately than a tri-axle tailgate spreading could have. I averaged 5 loads per week just under 5 weeks for a total 23 trips and 84,250lbs. and finished right at 13 months ago. I do need a couple more tons spread around before I top it with milled asphalt (another ~$1100 in material) so I'll be into it for about $2500 plus maybe $150 in fuel and a little wear on my truck and working over my trailer pretty good. I was quoted $15K and I was ok with that when we were going to build as it needed to be done far more quickly than I could do it and I wanted to concentrate my efforts on HVAC and woodworking where my greatest talents are.

Another way to look at it, particularly when younger is learning how something is done, whatever that something may be to understand what's involved and avoid being taken later on in life where writing a check is easier.

 

[Prospecter]

My parents hired out almost everything. Their challenge was finding capable people who reliably did nice work.

Where I live, it is often difficult to find people who do good work. I've ended up learning many skills due to a lack of reliable providers with good skills, at any price.

I have learned to pay for higher quality materials delivered, rather than make multiple trips to box stores to pick up lower quality stuff on my own. More money, but makes DIY go a lot faster and easier. I pace myself. At 63, recovery takes longer, so I ease into the job.

My workout plan is to work hard enough to ache every day. I don't belong to a gym, so labor is my workout.

How do I figure savings? No travel or membership for workouts. Cool tools paid for out of savings. No taxes on the money I don't spend. No money for someone else's labor.

 

[Stuart in MN]

If it's something I can't do or don't want to do, I'll hire it out.

Doing it yourself can be rewarding, but there are some projects (shingling a roof comes to mind) where I've already done it a couple times in the past and don't need to prove anything to myself anymore - been there, done that.

 

[slow]

I am cheap, so I often do it myself, with places like this, youtube and such I have tackled jobs harder than i would normally have done.

I figure this in my determination of what to do. If I try, and screw up, will it cost more than just paying for it to be done right the first time. Often, it does not cost more, so I give it a try. When it is a situation where the screw up factor is high then that pushes towards hiring somebody.

I have only hired somebody to do the lawn (due to time) roof, gutters and ceiling repair in one of the bedrooms. I could have done the ceiling repair, but matching a finished knockdown drywall texture is something that would bug me if I did it wrong, The guy we hired did a great job, and had tools I didn't even know existed.

 

[speed bump]

I use a matrix:

Do I want to do it?
Do I need it done now?
Is it simple?
What is my skill level?
Do I want something out of the ordinary?
Whats the cost/complexity of hiring it out?
Am I willing to go back and fix my mistakes?
Does my cheap *** override what I know I should do?

For your garage my question would be: Do you want to work in your garage or on your garage for a year? If you want to work in it, then pay someone and ten years down the road you probably won't even care what you paid. If you want to work on it then DIY your garage and ten years down the road you will either be bragging about it or saying how you should have paid someone.