Why your hard work isn’t working

[Mtatoc]

I'm an good do-it-yourselfer. I've tiled floors, laid brick, built cabinetry, wired and plumbed my house and others, hung the Sheetrock, also have built numerous websites, created rack cards and brochures and, I believe, done a perfectly respectable job of it.
Still, I'm a great believerer in hiring professionals. They know stuff. Not surprisingly, and in spite of some anecdotalal evidence above to the contrary, professionals generally do a faster, neater, and better-functioning job than I can.
Partly, it comes down to time and money. If I have the time and want to save some money, I'll do a job myself. But most of the time these days my time can be put to better use and hiring a professional to work for me makes sense.
The rest of it (the decision to hire or not) depends on their expertise, and my own. I'm not good at everything and I have to realize that. I have to see, or depend on someone else to tell me, when what I'm doing isn't up to snuff.
So you have to use your head. Don't hire a professional for every little thing. If you have the time and expertise to do it, do it yourself. If you don't have the money to spare for a professional on a particular job, do it yourself.
On the other hand, if you realize that a professional can do the job so much better that their result will pay their cost, then find the money to hire it done, freeing you up to do something only YOU can do..

If I hadn't seen your ID, I would have thought my DH had written that!

 

[Arks]

I'm an good do-it-yourselfer. I've tiled floors, laid brick, built cabinetry, wired and plumbed my house and others, hung the Sheetrock, also have built numerous websites, created rack cards and brochures and, I believe, done a perfectly respectable job of it.
Still, I'm a great believerer in hiring professionals. They know stuff. Not surprisingly, and in spite of some anecdotalal evidence above to the contrary, professionals generally do a faster, neater, and better-functioning job than I can.
Partly, it comes down to time and money. If I have the time and want to save some money, I'll do a job myself. But most of the time these days my time can be put to better use and hiring a professional to work for me makes sense.
The rest of it (the decision to hire or not) depends on their expertise, and my own. I'm not good at everything and I have to realize that. I have to see, or depend on someone else to tell me, when what I'm doing isn't up to snuff.
So you have to use your head. Don't hire a professional for every little thing. If you have the time and expertise to do it, do it yourself. If you don't have the money to spare for a professional on a particular job, do it yourself.
On the other hand, if you realize that a professional can do the job so much better that their result will pay their cost, then find the money to hire it done, freeing you up to do something only YOU can do..

There nothing to see here. Move along.

 

[Madeleine]

I'm an good do-it-yourselfer. I've tiled floors, laid brick, built cabinetry, wired and plumbed my house and others, hung the Sheetrock, also have built numerous websites, created rack cards and brochures and, I believe, done a perfectly respectable job of it.
Still, I'm a great believerer in hiring professionals. They know stuff. Not surprisingly, and in spite of some anecdotalal evidence above to the contrary, professionals generally do a faster, neater, and better-functioning job than I can.
Partly, it comes down to time and money. If I have the time and want to save some money, I'll do a job myself. But most of the time these days my time can be put to better use and hiring a professional to work for me makes sense.
The rest of it (the decision to hire or not) depends on their expertise, and my own. I'm not good at everything and I have to realize that. I have to see, or depend on someone else to tell me, when what I'm doing isn't up to snuff.
So you have to use your head. Don't hire a professional for every little thing. If you have the time and expertise to do it, do it yourself. If you don't have the money to spare for a professional on a particular job, do it yourself.
On the other hand, if you realize that a professional can do the job so much better that their result will pay their cost, then find the money to hire it done, freeing you up to do something only YOU can do..

Another reason to hire a professional is to get the guarantee that comes with the product. We could easily install a water heater here but we'd have to go pick it up (could break in transit), I'd be forced to haul it out of the truck, into the cellar and haul the old one out (I ain't no spring chicken) and we can't do anything else at the same time.
Plus, nothing breaks at 1 PM. Everything breaks at 7 AM.

 

[Arks]

I'm an good do-it-yourselfer. I've tiled floors, laid brick, built cabinetry, wired and plumbed my house and others, hung the Sheetrock, also have built numerous websites, created rack cards and brochures and, I believe, done a perfectly respectable job of it.
Still, I'm a great believerer in hiring professionals. They know stuff. Not surprisingly, and in spite of some anecdotalal evidence above to the contrary, professionals generally do a faster, neater, and better-functioning job than I can.
Partly, it comes down to time and money. If I have the time and want to save some money, I'll do a job myself. But most of the time these days my time can be put to better use and hiring a professional to work for me makes sense.
The rest of it (the decision to hire or not) depends on their expertise, and my own. I'm not good at everything and I have to realize that. I have to see, or depend on someone else to tell me, when what I'm doing isn't up to snuff.
So you have to use your head. Don't hire a professional for every little thing. If you have the time and expertise to do it, do it yourself. If you don't have the money to spare for a professional on a particular job, do it yourself.
On the other hand, if you realize that a professional can do the job so much better that their result will pay their cost, then find the money to hire it done, freeing you up to do something only YOU can do..

Another reason to hire a professional is to get the guarantee that comes with the product. We could easily install a water heater here but we'd have to go pick it up (could break in transit), I'd be forced to haul it out of the truck, into the cellar and haul the old one out (I ain't no spring chicken) and we can't do anything else at the same time.
Plus, nothing breaks at 1 PM. Everything breaks at 7 AM.
.

...I ain't no spring chicken...

This comes as a surprise as I only know you as a little girl in her yellow hat, hugging her puppy.

 

[Happy Keeper]

I'm an good do-it-yourselfer. I've tiled floors, laid brick, built cabinetry, wired and plumbed my house and others, hung the Sheetrock, also have built numerous websites, created rack cards and brochures and, I believe, done a perfectly respectable job of it.
Still, I'm a great believerer in hiring professionals. They know stuff. Not surprisingly, and in spite of some anecdotalal evidence above to the contrary, professionals generally do a faster, neater, and better-functioning job than I can.
Partly, it comes down to time and money. If I have the time and want to save some money, I'll do a job myself. But most of the time these days my time can be put to better use and hiring a professional to work for me makes sense.
The rest of it (the decision to hire or not) depends on their expertise, and my own. I'm not good at everything and I have to realize that. I have to see, or depend on someone else to tell me, when what I'm doing isn't up to snuff.
So you have to use your head. Don't hire a professional for every little thing. If you have the time and expertise to do it, do it yourself. If you don't have the money to spare for a professional on a particular job, do it yourself.
On the other hand, if you realize that a professional can do the job so much better that their result will pay their cost, then find the money to hire it done, freeing you up to do something only YOU can do..

Couldn't agree more.

 

[Samster]

The other thing is that small businesses don't have budgets to hire lots of expertise. How many experts can i hire for $500/month?
I admit, I have a blog, twitter and facebook for the B&B. None of which do much for us. So i would be better off hiring a professional? I do not see any B&B's killing it with their blog but maybe I am wrong..

The other thing is that small businesses don't have budgets to hire lots of expertise. How many experts can i hire for $500/month?
I admit, I have a blog, twitter and facebook for the B&B. None of which do much for us. So i would be better off hiring a professional? I do not see any B&B's killing it with their blog but maybe I am wrong.

We hired someone. In 8 years we finally hired someone. No not internet, but roof. We needed to make sure the old fireplace stack up on the roof does not leak when it rains hard or snow melts, so in 8 years we hired someone.
It rained last night, we woke up this morning to a huge puddle of water in our kitchen on the table on the floor and the drywall seam buckled. Dh will have to climb up there and see what happened, the patch the fix, the tar? Where is it, in the can still?
Yep, hire the professional, awright.
This is why we do everything ourselves, not because we are cheapskates, but because we have to redo or fix the things others do. I hired a housekeeper who later was on the front page of the paper and in jail. She put the sheets on the bed the wrong way, must have had fun getting them on there, the wrong way, and blew out all the elastic, She also sprayed bleach or something on the brass fixtures and destroyed them in 2 bathrooms.
Yes, we are control freaks, yes we want things done right. Is that too much to ask? Apparently. So if you hire someone watch them like a hawk, they won't like that one bit, what else can you do? I guarantee calling this contractor to come back will be futile, he just won't come back...and then the battle begins.
.

JB, we have a hard time finding quality contractors and workmen here as well. But, there are just some jobs that my dh can't do anymore and replacing our roof was one of them. Big house, two stories high with several roof lines. No way could he do it. We actually had one of the best experiences with that roofing contractor which was a total shock!
But it IS so very discouraging when you pay good money and expect quality work and contractors are slackers. We have a set of porch stairs that were built only 5 years ago and they are crap. The painter we've used for the 8 years we've lived here who usually does really good work did not come through for us on all the work he did this summer (to the tune of a lot of $$$$) and I decided not to have him repair them. My dh and I will have to tackle them next Spring. Since I broke my husband with all the work he did on these 2 houses, I hope I can work with him and we can get them built! It's on the project list....
Hang in there....