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Ever wonder why you keep insisting on building shit yourself?

yozsi said:
What I never understood is I have customers who are auto techs take their family's cars to us to fix and do maintenance. I ain't complaining but I can't comprehend it.
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If I could build my own tires at home and cure them out, and have them be better than 99% of the shit on the market... id still take my shit to a shop and pay for a new set of Goodstone all terrains. :flipoff2:
 
yozsi said:
What I never understood is I have customers who are auto techs take their family's cars to us to fix and do maintenance. I ain't complaining but I can't comprehend it.
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I knew a guy that was a mechanic. My car shit the bed and I was looking for a cheaper option than taking it to a shop. I called him and he said, no. I told him I'd pay him up front. He hemmed and hawed around then said, "I work on cars all day. The last thing I want to do is come home and have to work on them." I later found out that he was pissed at me for painting his driveshaft like a rainbow on a wheeling trip :shaking: I never wheeled with that guy again.
 
Thefishguy77 said:
I think a lot of it depends on what your skill set is. Hammer and nails I am good to go no worries within reason of course. Basic mechanical same thing, but fabricating something from metal that involves safety or structural considerations are currently above my pay grade so I would pay for that. Ok I should pay for that but I am cheap. :homer:
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That is the problem, I know I have the skills to take on pretty much any project, so it's hard to pay somebody else when you don't have to. The wife has been getting mad because we always talk about doing all kinds of projects but they never seem to happen. So, we sat down and made a list. Shed with a patio and firepit is first up. Then I promised the master bath remodel will get done finally this winter. I think I am going to try and see if I can get my K5 LS swap on the list in between!
 
I have a problem. I simply look at the cost to complete vs the cost I could complete it for. If the difference is small, I then determine what the consequences of failure or shitty work are. If both are minimal and I have no interest, I'll hire it out. That's about the only way shit gets hired out. Right now, I'm stuck in a large earth moving project tied up in a retaining wall that would make a city planner blush. I've purchased a dump truck and small hoe to do this with and leveraged relationships to get spoils from contractors who would otherwise pay to have the shit hauled off and I'm getting close to being complete. I'm pissed at myself for even starting it. It's a ridiculous project that is way more work than I should have taken on, but it fit my criteria. difference in cost is huge, consequences of failure is huge, consequences of shitty work is huge, I have designed this kind of shit for a living so I have interest. The size of the project was never in my thought process. I'm so over it. :homer:

The other end of the spectrum is I will decide to do a project because I want something done, it makes the criteria, but I need it done before I can legitimately make it happen. I hire it out and then have to spend even more time unfucking something some asshat did for me. I get pissed because I didn't stick to the matrix.

finally there is the wife. I hate pinterest. She will come up with some gawdawful looking thing I'm to recreate because she can't find one exactly like she wants. I listen patiently while she describes it with grand hand gestures and scratching shit out in the dirt, then ask for a drawing with some measurements on it. Nope. Just use your best judgement. Motherufcker, I know I'm set up for failure before I start.
 
yozsi said:
What I never understood is I have customers who are auto techs take their family's cars to us to fix and do maintenance. I ain't complaining but I can't comprehend it.
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Maybe you work cheaper than they do :flipoff2:


I do just about every trade or work I can because I know what I want and am willing to spend the time to do it right. Not just rush to get done and get paid.

Also I am a fairly low paid Museum employee. I don't have the money people want to do the work I can do myself.
 
  • "It's gonna save me money"
  • "There's no lead time to start"
  • "It will be a fun project"
  • "I've always wanted to be able to say I did XYZ"


""""""Saving money"""""" is the biggest trap after all the gotchas, extra trips to the store, new tools, etc :lmao:
 
I'm just staunchly opposed to paying someone to do something I can do myself... even though it usually ends up costing me twice as much and taking three times longer than if I'd just swallowed my pride and hired someone who knew what they fuck they were doing to do it in the first place. LOL!
 
east_beast said:
I'm just staunchly opposed to paying someone to do something I can do myself... even though it usually ends up costing me twice as much and taking three times longer than if I'd just swallowed my pride and hired someone who knew what they fuck they were doing to do it in the first place. LOL!
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so say we all. amen
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Even though it always seems to go wrong, or is it just me?

I keep feeling like I have to many garage projects and it's driving me crazy, yet I keep adding more. :homer:

I always hoped I would get more patients as I got older, but I'm literally getting less by the week.
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I wonder this all the time. I do all the car maintenace and work because I like it. Carpentry on the other hand I suck at, so I'm fine hireing out remodels because I turn into a lunatic with anger and start hacking shit together just to get it done. Now my wife is such a perfectionist that all she does is nitpick the contractors work which drives the anger level almost up to the same level as doing it myself LOL!!
 
Because my check book only has 3 digits to the left of the decimal point!
 
Slander said:
Now my wife is such a perfectionist that all she does is nitpick the contractors work which drives the anger level almost up to the same level as doing it myself LOL!!
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Honestly, you'll probably get better quality work if you leave them alone. Make sure they understand what you want, and take a look at it before they pack up to address any issues.


I've walked outside, packed up tools, and drove away before. I simply tell my office they can fuck right off. If they want to hire a professional then tell them how "that can't be right because they did this on the TV show..." They can call the TV show. I didn't spend the last 15 years being an electrician so that Suzie homemaker could lecture me on how wrong it is that I'm doing stuff she doesn't like to meet code. :flipoff2:




On a side note, we did a weekend bath remodel that was on TV. It took them 6 months, and they made sure we showed up with the same shirt and pants every day we worked there so they could lie about the time frame. The cameras slowed shit down big time.
 
Cause I have the skills, and enjoy using them ... mostly.

Like most I have a bit of a sliding scale:

One off custom stuff is a combination of interesting to me and knowing how much $$$ it would cost to bring in a pro so if it is going to get done I am going to do it myself.

General maintenance stuff I just don't like being nickle and dimed to death on, so in most cases I will do it even if I don't really enjoy it. But I can remember taking the daily driver to a quicky lube place even while having the oil and filter in the garage, just cause it was the middle of winter and I didn't want roll around on my back under a wet, freezing, dripping mess.

Larger projects that I know that I either just don't have the number of hours in a day to get done any time this decade, or have to get done on a compressed time scale will look to be hired out. My last house I had to put a tub in along with some tile work, no issue cutting that check to get it done in 3-4 days in stead of the 3-4 weeks it would have taken me to do by myself. But when they quoted me a 1000 dollar extra to hook up a laundry tub in the attached garage with existing pluming, that only required minimal rework, you can bet I did that myself.

Dumb grunt bull work that I want no part of (roofing, pouring concrete) there ain't no way I am doing it myself. However since my day job is watching over contractors they don't get away with much ;)
 
First, I had a dad that was a contractor. If it didn’t exist, he would build it. I guess I grew up figuring that I could do the same. Second, I love the challenge. I have the ability to picture something I want to build in my mind and figure exactly how to build it. I’ve done small projects and big ones that I figured I was in way over my head. When I have finished some I look back and think to myself, how the hell did I accomplish that all by myself. Projects are what keep me going and give me a reason to get up each morning.
 
Chevy_man said:
Honestly, you'll probably get better quality work if you leave them alone. Make sure they understand what you want, and take a look at it before they pack up to address any issues.


I've walked outside, packed up tools, and drove away before. I simply tell my office they can fuck right off. If they want to hire a professional then tell them how "that can't be right because they did this on the TV show..." They can call the TV show. I didn't spend the last 15 years being an electrician so that Suzie homemaker could lecture me on how wrong it is that I'm doing stuff she doesn't like to meet code. :flipoff2:




On a side note, we did a weekend bath remodel that was on TV. It took them 6 months, and they made sure we showed up with the same shirt and pants every day we worked there so they could lie about the time frame. The cameras slowed shit down big time.
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I worded that wrong, shes not an asshole at all about it and its punch list stuff at the end of the project. She just vents to me about tiles 1* out of square and paint streaks and I feel like a dbag pointing that shit out. The stress is on me because I get to hear the "cant anyone do anything right ever blah blah blah" lol.
 
Landslide said:
Being made to buy Chinese? Shit, most of the people on here LOVE China harbor freight crappy tools. They can’t wait until the coupons come out to buy more China crap. Mays well just send their money directly to the Chinese red army.

Sadly now it’s very difficult to find stuff made elsewhere.
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Buy 5 of each just to make it thru a year???
FUCK that.
I hope this flu creates some "boycott china" mentality!
 
rockdog57 said:
First, I had a dad that was a contractor. If it didn’t exist, he would build it. I guess I grew up figuring that I could do the same. Second, I love the challenge. I have the ability to picture something I want to build in my mind and figure exactly how to build it. I’ve done small projects and big ones that I figured I was in way over my head. When I have finished some I look back and think to myself, how the hell did I accomplish that all by myself. Projects are what keep me going and give me a reason to get up each morning.
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Exactly. Skill plus imagination plus a few failures and determination and voila, you have yourself a successful attempt at doing things your own way and get to either reap the rewards or, suffer your mistakes.

Personally I enjoy learning from my own shortcomings, especially when no one's watching it happen in real time except me. :cookie:
 
Well my helper drilled the holes 1/4" off of each other :laughing: but I still managed to get this phase of the pos trailer I don't need #3.

photo6701.jpg
 
I'm back..:flipoff2::usa: OOH, and we have black text too :)

I can fawk it up for free... why should I pay someone to do it. More often than not, If I try to hire something out, I end up fixing it anyway. I could rant for days about such things .. and dont get me started about contractors that dont want to take my money enough to show up to get me an estimate.
 
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Phil said:
since you changed my wiper blades, my brakes squeal

since you changed my brakes for free, all my radio stations are gone

since you changed my headlights, my transmission makes noise

you think they want that shit from family, for free, on Saturday night?
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Yeah, just had that one. You replaced my blown up t-case. Now the AC controls don't work and it overheated right when I got home 20 miles away. They aren't connected. Yeah but you just worked on it. Yes, but if the overheat condition was present, it would have shown up on my test drive, it didn't. It is just a coincidence that it started right as you got home. Yeah, but you just worked on it. Alright drive it back and if you can get it here without it overheating until you are a block away, I'll come get you and I'll take a look at it. Calls me to tell me he couldn't even get a 1/4 mile before it overheated. Yep, that's what I was trying to tell you. What about the AC? There are no bits that control the AC that the front driveshaft flailing about can damage, it's not connected.
 
mrblaine said:
Yeah, just had that one. You replaced my blown up t-case. Now the AC controls don't work and it overheated right when I got home 20 miles away. They aren't connected. Yeah but you just worked on it. Yes, but if the overheat condition was present, it would have shown up on my test drive, it didn't. It is just a coincidence that it started right as you got home. Yeah, but you just worked on it. Alright drive it back and if you can get it here without it overheating until you are a block away, I'll come get you and I'll take a look at it. Calls me to tell me he couldn't even get a 1/4 mile before it overheated. Yep, that's what I was trying to tell you. What about the AC? There are no bits that control the AC that the front driveshaft flailing about can damage, it's not connected.
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I fkg hate those kinda days. :rasta:
 
trampas said:
I fkg hate those kinda days. :rasta:
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Yesterday was that fucking day. I installed some rock rails that have a backer that goes on first. The rock slider goes onto that one. Guy sends me pictures saying, hey, 3 of the 4 nutserts fell out. No they didn't. I don't use nutserts anyplace I can through bolt something. The holes with the "missing" nutserts are the exact same holes where you just removed a through bolt.

He replies back, yeah, I'm an idiot. I replied "yes you are".
 
I honestly try to do it. But I really suck at it. I really need to get better at carpentry. Dad's been doing it for 50+ years. How he can glance at a ruler in under a second, read another measurement, followed by another, and total it in about three seconds is beyond me. He helped redo the bathroom at the now rental, and he notched out the cement board thing. There were vents, inlets, toilet base, etc that needed holes cut for. He notched it all about in one whack. Everything fit perfectly. Not a single adjustment had to be made. You have any idea how many recuts, alterations, and "ah fuck me sideways"'s that would take me? I'm...ok with a wrench. But a hammer? fuck that. I suck.
 
McCracken said:
I knew a guy that was a mechanic. My car shit the bed and I was looking for a cheaper option than taking it to a shop. I called him and he said, no. I told him I'd pay him up front. He hemmed and hawed around then said, "I work on cars all day. The last thing I want to do is come home and have to work on them." I later found out that he was pissed at me for painting his driveshaft like a rainbow on a wheeling trip :shaking: I never wheeled with that guy again.
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Sounds like two separate things to me.


I sit in front of a computer all day. Come 5 PM I am done. Maybe I'll pull my phone out and dick around on forums while watching some late night tv but I'd rather be doing anything else; when someone asks me to look at their computer/printer/gadget I firmly tell them no thanks. I even get the same "but I'll make it worth your time!" tantrums occasionally which doesn't make me any more likely to want to spend another couple hours in front of a computer despite whatever money they're waving in my face.
 
Wulf said:
Sounds like two separate things to me.


I sit in front of a computer all day. Come 5 PM I am done. Maybe I'll pull my phone out and dick around on forums while watching some late night tv but I'd rather be doing anything else; when someone asks me to look at their computer/printer/gadget I firmly tell them no thanks. I even get the same "but I'll make it worth your time!" tantrums occasionally which doesn't make me any more likely to want to spend another couple hours in front of a computer despite whatever money they're waving in my face.
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meh, possibly. The dude is lazy anyway. I think it was a combination of the two but the point I was making is what you said. Use any old story you want. The cobbler's kids have no shoes, the housekeeper's home is a wreck, etc.
 
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