Related Posts
Conversation Starter
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
That was just a preview…
Sign Up to see all discussions
Sign Up to see all discussions
- Discover what it’s like to work at companies from real professionals
- Get candid advice from people in your field in a safe space
- Chat and network with other professionals in your field
Sign up in seconds to unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
"" is an unusual email domain. If correct, please proceed to the next step
Messaging rates may apply
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Share
Embed this post
Copy and paste embed code on your site
Preview
Download the
Fishbowl app
Scan your QR code to download
Fishbowl app on your mobile
Sign up for free to view this conversation on Fishbowl
Sign up for free to continue using Fishbowl
Messaging rates may apply
I'm a huge DIYer, but typically avoid consequential items like electrical and major plumbing. Meaning, I'll do ceiling fans but not rewiring. Not because I can't do it, but risk/reward. I'm not risking burning my house down to save $200. That said, if someone gives me a quote over about $400 for anything, I'm checking with my tradesman contacts to see if it sounds legit.
I've done built ins in 2 different mud rooms, interior trim in entire house, bathroom demo, replaced soffits and fascia, floor demo, spray insulation in attic (NEVER do this), dining room table build, paint exterior trim, chicken coop design/build, play house design/build, etc.
I get legit fulfillment doing these things on my own. It's my release from a laptop.
OMG Yes! Never do your own spray attic insulation. It is a terrible job. Pay someone. It’s worth it.
Couple years ago my furnace started failing. With 2 small kids, cold winter, a working furnace is a must. Repair quoted me $2k to replace the bad blower motor. After couple of calls, I found a wholeseller 2 blocks from me and got me a new motor for $175. I reviewed a bunch of yt videos, then took pics of all the wires and connections before I took the old one off, cut my hands multiples on the blades, but 2 hours later, got a new motor in and a warm house. Dropped the old motor at metal scrap yard and got a $5 bill out of it. Mighty proud of myself.
An hour is solid. A new breaker is $100 not $2k lol but now you have a new skill! Big fan of this.
2 things I don’t touch- electric and plumbing. There is a reason they have high bill rates- same as you with your clients.
I've had decent career progression and am 28 at $230k and 4 YOE. There's a voice in my head that says I should be tunneling all of my time (reserving ample amounts for family of course) into self-development since that will give me the greatest ROI on my time.
On the other hand I also get satisfaction out of handling stuff like this by myself + have had a good number of instances in my life of people trying to scam me (maybe a function of living in Houston? Or a function of going for cheaper contractors) so I have a big bias to doing things myself.
I'm sure other guys have thought through this. What are your thoughts?
You can funnel this into rental property. I own a 3-unit and do a ton DIY so have no management company/fee which allows me to keep that 10% of rent. Possible to dabble here and keep your day job which is clearly more advantageous to you on an hourly.
Found another case... CAT6 wiring labels are all kinds of fucked. Maybe they aren't connected properly in the attic or got damaged at some point by AC techs tuning up the AC during closing. DIY or hire out? Will take an hour or two to diagnose the problem and then potentially a lot more time spending on the root cause.
Diagnose the problem, figure out what all is needed to fix, then call around to get estimate for fix but get past the “service call” pitch and tell them exactly the cause of problem and the fix you want done. Yes, there can be some things unforeseen, but, this will we’d out scammers and you’ll find honest guys that can do the work and it will also give you a reasonable $ to value it against your time.
I've been a homeowner for 20 years and I DIY whatever I can. The only exceptions for me is plumbing (since I don't have the right tools) and finishing large drywall repairs (no matter how hard I try I just can't get it right). I completely finished the basement in my first house and learned as I went along.
Back when I started there was not a YouTube video for every home repair so I bought this book from home Depot. I still have it and still reference it at times when I can't use my phone.
Just curious, how was the breaker wiring incorrect? Kind of hard to screw that up unless a wire was disconnected
After I made this post, I started to set up another room and discovered that that room had nonfunctional outlets also, so lucky me I had to go tinker with the breaker box again.
In my breaker box, there are white cables coming out of the breakers that need to be screwed into the neutral bar. There were two holes in the breaker, the top one for a black wire and the bottom one for a yellow wire (I think the neutral wire).
Two of the breakers did not have yellow wires in their bottom holes. I went in and loosened two yellow wires from the neutral bar and put it into the breakers for the two rooms where the plugs didn't work and now everything is working.
YouTube, forums/reddit, and good tools will get you through most fixes and projects. When I was 3 my dad got schooled on washing machine repair by a blind neighbor, he decided to learn diy and passed it down.
SM1, “NEVER do spray insulation”… so you mean yourself or ever do it in any house? I ask because I’m considering replacing the 40 yr old fiberglass loose sprayed stuff with spray foam insulation
Sorry, I meant never do it yourself. It's not hard, but it is a messy itchy job. I was covered head to toe with seems taped between clothes and it still gets through to your skin. I quickly realized why my dad offered to help but insisted he was the one feeding the machine on the ground instead of in the attic spraying.
That was 12+ years ago so it was the loose fiberglass. Probably not an issue with the foam.