Digital Masta wrote: ↑Sun Jan 01, 2023 3:39 am
Do you have friends help you or do you do everything yourself?
You don't strike as the type that has dudes help you.
Also
To answer your question directly: I do most of this stuff on my own. Typically, my friends are not handy and are quite dangerous at times. I don't like working with my wife's family (they are in construction) because they are just interested in drinking. I don't work with my family because 1. they live on the other side of the state and 2. my dad is 70 in a few days. In general, I don't do business with family anyway - I see it as there are only 4 possible outcomes...and only 1 of them is a positive ending (we are happy, we are unhappy, one of us is unhappy x 2). So why try something with a 75% failure rate? If it's a stranger -- I'll spend thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars to take you to court repeatedly and make you go bankrupt and end up homeless and on the street. Your wife will leave you and take the kids. Your reputation will be ruined...so all that is left is to suck start a shotgun....or I'll take your company. Or make you do it again, but right this time. I digress
To elaborate:
...so I'm a weird one. In general, I do everything myself ONCE. Then after I've learned the skillset, I just pay someone because it is no longer interesting or worth my time. What that does is it removes the mystery to A LOT of things. Houses are built so cheaply btw. My big issue is that when those quotes come back in...they make me super emotional...and then I do it myself at that point just because, fuck you!
Certain things I will not even attempt to do because the cost of a failure is so humongous [I don't fuck around with major plumbing repairs, at all...and won't do plumbing repairs that are behind a wall. But replacing leaky faucets/sinks/toilets/garbage disposals - absolutely...besides plumbers charge $180 for a 30 min job that actually takes them 19 seconds but takes me 3 mins. It is my biggest struggle with our rental properties. The bills are just wild (though tax deductible which is why I hire out vs drive an hr there, diagnose, run to the hardware store, come back, repair it, then remove the trash). Seriously, $180 to repair the leaky internals for a toilet (when you can buy a $30 kit to replace everything)...and $110 to repair a leaky garbage disposal (when you can buy a $5 rubber gasket). Pest control is similar. Just got a second $200 bill for mice. (The tenants apparently catch/release and surprise, surprise...they came back!).
At my residence...I can take my time...let the trash accumulate [off cuts from the deck are currently stacked in my garage]...then do a major clean up at the end.
With this backyard overhaul project...I have built a deck from scratch before...so no big issue with changing the layout now. I have not screened in a deck before (so a new skill set I'm learning). I have never built stairs/railings [on an angle] (so a new skillset I'm learning)...and I've never bought a load of gravel (so a new skillset I'm learning [how to estimate how much I'll need]).
I am doing the backyard in phases anyway...so if I can save 90% on step 1...why not?
As far as help...growing up, my brother and I always helped our dad with stuff like this. Mostly because we were poor so it was a necessity. I am so proud of my dad for that. He was incredibly handy. And thinking back -- a lot of it still impresses me to this day (because Google and Youtube didn't exist 30 years ago). But my dad grew up on a farm before going into the military. He had a 5th/6th grade education...before he eventually went back and got his GED (probably in his early/mid 40s). My brother and I talk about how our dad was illiterate. We remember watching him learn to read. People today don't understand...but it's just the way it is when you grow up in poverty in rural America.
My brother grew up and made money immediately after high school and decided then he doesn't get his hands dirty anymore. He's "taught" the same thing to his kids. It blows my mind how useless my nephews and niece are. They've never cut the grass[...because he doesn't own a lawnmower]. Never changed oil, or flats, or a car battery, or a headlight, I'm sure. They've never even had a part time job. So even now...his oldest is 22...no plans for college or to leave home...next is 20...no plans for college or to leave home....and 15...he wants to go to college (but not too far from home). But I GUARANTEE they could ALL crush you in COD/Halo/Smash Bros/Streetfighter...or probably any other game out there (God I haven't played video games in so long).
My brother has worked at car dealerships forever - and it was always a "perk"...multiple cars he got to drive for the family. I think he's changed them out every 7-8 months for the past 20 years. I have had 3 cars total. 285k miles on my 1992 Honda Civic, 360k miles on my 2001 Ford Escape...and now 215k miles on my 2011 Ford Edge (300k and I'm getting rid of it...and getting anything but a Ford). I doubt my brother even owns tools besides the very basic hammer/screwdriver/drill.
I grew up and fixed a lot of stuff myself out of necessity. Then we seriously started making money. I stopped doing time sink activities at that point. I plan to start doing them again when my kids come of age.
The current and next generation on my wife's side aren't any better really. And it's funny listening to some of the comments and listening to some of the questions asked. They haven't prepared them for life...
Honestly...it is crazy to me because it makes all of the cliches true. First generation gets the opportunity to improve while scraping by. Second generation takes the opportunity and builds wealth. Third generation loses it all. Fourth generation get the opportunity to improve while scraping by...or the Red Pill version: Tough times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create tough times.
End of ramble...
franchise. They hold the 
. 
lol.
. My bro and I were working with my dad doing taper work in grade 6 and 7. I worked at the Horse Race Track at 16. That summer I came back to school with horse legs cause most times I had to rise my bike there 6am in the morning and walk horses around for 6hrs. Ya I don't plan on babying my son, the wifey is seeing the consequences of over coddling and how he reacts to her as oppose to me.. My bro and I were working with my dad doing taper work in grade 6 and 7. I worked at the Horse Race Track at 16. That summer I came back to school with horse legs cause most times I had to rise my bike there 6am in the morning and walk horses around for 6hrs. Ya I don't plan on babying my son, the wifey is seeing the consequences of over coddling and how he reacts to her as oppose to me.
good point.