Three Saturdays ago, a friend and I took on the task of ripping out and replacing a cracked bathtub in my new house. I had only found one plumber willing to take on such a task, and he asked over $800.
The culture in which I grew up is quite do-it-yourself oriented. Myself, I have always had a deep respect and a touch of jealousy for those who can rebuild engines, remodel the kitchen, blah, blah, blah. But three Saturdays ago, I realized that having a free weekend during perfect July weather is worth a lot -- much more than $800, probably.
For the first time in my life, I no longer whipped myself for not being good with my hands. At 33 years of age -- and within shouting distance of 34 -- I think I've crossed a threshold. I no longer desire to be Mr. Handyman. If I can change the oil, fix leaky faucets, replace the lightbulbs, tighten the doorknobs, then hell, that's good enough for me. There are those in the world who are good at home improvement projects and auto mechanics. When you can afford it, pay them to do it. (And when I can't afford it, I'll ask myself, does this REALLY need to be done now?) While the pros are at work, I'll be in the garden or joy riding.
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I agree with you! The last 10 years or so we've also made the decision to let those who know how to do the job right the first time have at it. Part of the reason for that is the same as yours; wanting to play on the weekends instead of work. But, the other reason is that we've learned the hard way to leave things to those who have the experience. You see, my husband replaced several loose outlets over the past 4 years or so. He went to the local hardware store, got the correct outlets, turned the power off to the house, and then replaced what needed to be replaced. Sounds simple enough doesn't it? It was until the main breakers starting tripping! He had replaced the outlets, but in doing so had caused the wires to make contact with each other and the "short" was causing the breaker to flip. This happeneded twice and cost us about $300 each time, but we're lucky we didn't lose the house to an electrical fire!
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