[Closed] Your philosophy on being able to do "Things"

1. Results vary, I must say, but I like doing stuff.

I have been deeply entrenched in Number 1

Could be worse.

Throw away instructions and crack on

My father in law, who is a wise man, has a phrase which perfectly sums this up...

"Stick to what you're good at....

Pay somebody else to do the rest"

Amen

Oiling a chain? Do it myself.
Reconstructive surgery? Get a professional to do it.

1 prefixed with 'what tools can I justify buying'.

I'm a '1'.

But I'd much rather be a '2' if I could afford.

I've got better to do with my time than cutting hedges, strimming weeds and clearing up which is what I've spent all weekend doing.

You can teach yourself to do anything, it depends on how urgent the job is and how determined you are to do it yourself.

Defo 1. Usually cheaper to buy any bits/tool you need and do it you yourself. Usually involves a bit of tinternet/yootoob research and takes 3 times longer than it should but ends with a nice smug feeling. That said I try to leave certain things such as electrics/gas etc to the pros. But other house/car stuff I like to try myself.

Generally 1, but with weeks of research before actually doing anything.

2, then go do something more interesting unless I find 1 interesting.

I like to build and work on bikes so I do that myself it is also useful to know how my bike went together if I have a mechanical out in the middle of no where. I couldn't be bothered with taking a week off to paint my house so I paid someone else.

Laid a patio this moning and rebuilt a bit of a wall that had been knocked down by a scrote legging it through the back gardens from the plod.

That was only my 2nd ever mixing of concrete!

I usually err on the side of if I know what the result looks like then figure it out in my head from there and Google it if I get stuck, most of the time it works out!

It depends. If it's something I want to learn to do then 1). If I'm not that bothered about (e.g bricklaying or plastering) then I'll pay somebody to do it. Especially if their day rate is less than mine.

Usually a 1 followed closely by 2 when I realise I couldn't do 1 after all.

That said, I am learning, and often just jump straight into 2.

I'm a 1 unless it is tedious (bricklaying) , highly skilled and obvious when you cock up (plastering, laying carpet) or it is urgent during a spell of good weather.

I'd rather look at my shoddy work than somebody else's shoddy work!

Aside from medical items and a boiler service, I've never used item 2.

Though I do confess, most of this is down to economics...and a little bit of "can I really do this myself?"

1. I kill the ****** bear RARRRGGHHAAAYYAAaaaa!

2. Someone Else fixes my plumbing

Definitely a 1. Out of necessity really. Very rural area, long way yo go to get stuff fixed, jobs need to be done to keep going at busy times, you learn to do things yourself. Just this minute come in from changing 2 tyres on the baler using hand tools/levers/hammers. I live in a house which I have built entirely with my own hands, including all walls, roof, wiring, plumbing, doors windows, kitchen units etc, all built from basic raw materials. Actually I tell a lie, I did have a man in to lay a carpet (free fitting service), but I did watch him, buy the necessary tools, and do the rest myself 🙂

Definitely a 1, I'll have a go at anything. Apart from accounts, more than happy to give my accountant a carrier bag full of "misc" and let him deal with it.

bearnecessities - Member
Could be worse

Definitely a 1. Yesterday I suffered a spectacular pingphuket moment when the head of my Honda strimmer came off the shaft. I managed to find all the parts except the bump feed spring. Quick call to local service agent to enquire re a new spring. No chance, but you can buy the whole head for 37 quid.

Pliers, snips and a wire coat hanger later and we're back up and running. Thanks Honda.

Another 1 here, but prefer to pay Plasterer and Tiler. Up to my neck in restoring a house now, paid someone to do the stuff I just haven't the time to do, or we'd live in a building site for years.

Left plenty for me, but the moneys almost gone so I'll plod along and finish it.

Bit of both, in reality it comes down to a complex multi criteria decision analysis method involving:
Content of Bank account
Availability of tools
Weather
Busyness
Experience
and a GAF rating

sometimes it just nice to come back and see a job well done.

"How hard can it be" is my diy motto

Used to be a 1 all the way but now if the cost of getting someone else in to do it is less than my hourly rate I do that as my time is more important to me nowadays.

Try it on something that doesn't matter too much, plastering the understairs cupboard, etc
Depending on the result, on the tools or on the phone

I always just ask myself, 'what would mcmoonter do?'

I end up doing far more of 2 than I would like, mainly because of time (I work away a lot) and because Mrs North has been conditioned by her parents.

As a student I was time rich, money poor, so would always be the "1" camp...
Now that's flipped about, but I still frequently need to remind myself of priorities in life etc etc.

If it's something I want to learn (i.e I recently installed our log burner as I found it interesting) or enjoy (just getting into gardening - though I pay a may to clear the garden, and of course fettling bikes) I'll do it myself.

It's cool to be able to do things, and I've always come from a practical family, so in a way i CAN do things (my brain works in a very visual way - i.e i can '3d render, expand, and rotate' images and structures 'in my mind'). However, when you look at the fact that if it's a 'boring' job, or simply too professional (proper plumbing) then I pay someone..

DrP

I'm a 1. And I tend to be quite good at whatever I have a crack at. I know that comes over as arrogant but it's not meant to be; I consider myself a very lucky guy due to that. Plus it took the best part of 35 years to get to that point as my old man used to tell me I was shit and would never achieve anything as long as I had a hole in my arse.

Well wouldn't you know - surgery can fix almost anything these days...

I have a very low boredom threshold so if it's going to take ages with little or no reward then somebody else has to do it

On the other hand if the task is interesting and requires no more than 30 mins I'm your man

I follow the following decision making process

Will an error while doing 1 lead to catastrophic failure/much crowing and sarcasm from spouse

Y - Do 2
N - Do 1

Has doing 1 lead to unforeseen catastrophic failure/much crowing and sarcasm from spouse

Y - Do 2
N - Be quite surprised

Ive always been a 1

But generally know when something is just too far outside my "scope of achievability without bolloxing it up"

I have recently had reason to tune my competence parameters. I will continue to be 1, but will try harder not to bollox stuff up.

Oh a 2. I want to be a 1. I am jealous of all my friends who seem to have been born with a genetic ability to bevel. I try so hard to read instructions, do things slowly and not get impatient. But EVERY time I end up hitting things with a hammer and either a) finishing the job at such a low level of quality I want to burn the result or b) spending twice as much getting proper adult to fix it.

Still feel bad tho paying someone to do a job I can sort of do. Bit not bad enough not to line up professional tradespeople at the first sign of difficulty 😉

I'm pretty handy on the tools.

My downside is that I think that I can do anything and everything!

It mostly goes well.

Apart from plastering. I need to practise that a LOT!

It does mean that I spend all of my free time doing stuff, and my missis expects me to be able to do anything diy related so has a long list of wants!

And I don't get enough time for riding and training

Being a electrician I think I can do everything around the house to a degree. So mainly no 1....but I'm now choosing to pick my battles. I leave plastering and anything where the cost of messing it up is too high. Just better to get a expert in. I've also never laid a tile on my life as have a friendly tiler.
Now I think about it I've had work done on my bike by others and won't touch the car so although I'm pretty handy it's probably more like 50/50 between 1 & 2.

Sometimes by the time you've bought the correct tools, spent far too much time, and finished with a substandard job you may as well have got someone in.

Generally 1, except where the consequences of it being 'good enough' are too grim to view such as plastering and carpet fitting.

Getting a bit 2 lately as children destroy the ability to leave a job half done and come back later when I've calmed down.

Absolutely always been 1 on cars and campers until the latest job which was fully undersealing a 4wd. Despite it being horrendously expensive it was just too grim to contemplate. I sucked it up, sold a bike and paid a man.

Mainly a 1, except as for others where there are chances of a bad outcome. It also has the advantage that when you have been doing it for a while you stand a much better chance of resolving a problem in an emergency and saving worse damage i.e. from leaking plumbing, and emergency call out fees...

if it's more complicated than putting up shelves, then 2.

i've already got a hobby that i like - i don't want to spend even less time doing that in favour of measuring and drilling

Generally a 1, apart from plastering. Will pay someone to do things if the outlay on tools is going to be massively expensive and they only get one use or if I simply don't have the space/time to do it or if it's a ball ache of a job.

As an example I've done a fair bit around the house (plumbing, electrics here and there, fitting kitchen, fitting bathroom, digging up waste pipes, boarding out rooms, fitting a fireplace, opening up an old fireplace) as well as car servicing and faffing with bikes 🙂

Wish I was a 1. However, I've learnt the reality is I procrastinate and get bored too quickly, and create substandard work in a much longer time than it would take a professional to do a proper job. Also, I can do an overtime shift at work instead, and then for the same net time/cash cost, get it done properly.

1 prefixed with 'what tools can I justify buying'.

Yep, if there is a good excuse to increase my Festool collection, I'm up for it.....

An optimistic 1, ‘how hard can it be’?

Very, apparently… but that never stops me trying. The new place needs a new bathroom (easy, just knock that wall down, new doorway. Fit bath and bog where they are now, new shower and sink, Bob’s your mothers) and a fireplace in the living room (see above).

Pics of the aftermath will be available. 🙂

Generally a 1. Traditionally due to having more time than money, and the appeal of buying tools. And a nagging distrust of tradespoeple. The only exceptions have been truly skilled jobs like plastering, and jobs that are so big they'd take up months and months of my weekends. There's not many jobs I regard as skilled. Electrics, plumbing, tiling, kitchen units, I've done all of those myself over the years, and normally to a better standard than when I've paid someone to do it.

Nowadays becoming more of a 2 but I still don't trust anyone to do a decent job. Even when paying what seems like good money - nobody around here seems to want to work for less than £250/day. That seems a lot. I certainly don't take home £250/day. So the folk on here who don't mind paying someone else when it's less than their own rate are either making sheetloads in IT, or they don't live in Berkshire !

The last tradesperson I spoke to wanted £200 for a half day's labour, plus £300 markup on £180 of materials from B&Q. So effectively £1000/day for his services. GTF.

1 for me. With the car, it was because I didn't have confidence in the people I'd have to pay a fortune. However I am tempted to pay someone to replace the bushings, as it seems cost effective. I may also pay someone for the next cambelt because it's such a ballache to do yourself, even though I've done a couple, and it's similarly not that expensive. I paid someone to fix the Prius a while back because I just didn't have the kit or the experience on the car.

On the other hand, I put some leak stop in the central heating last night at 10.30pm to fix a small leak, at a cost of £10 - that was definitely not worth calling out a plumber for. The only reason I knew how to do it was because I'd gained experience replacing a rad.

I do regret somewhat not having someone do the flooring in our house when we moved in. We did an ok job, but it's only ok. But then - the DIY job would have been better if I'd removed the skirting board intsead of fitting edging.

Also opened up a camera lens at the weekend to remove a hair, instead of sending it off. It did take me most of the day though.

I tend to hit stuff with a sledge hammer to see how well stuck in it is, then go for option #2

Basically 4 criteria. Does it look fun, how expensive will it be to get a pro to do it, how much hassle will it be to get a pro to do it, and how bad is it if it goes wrong. Lots of jobs are one-shot or hard to fix so I'm less inclined to steam into those...

So- car needs new rear suspension arm bushings. It's a pretty easy job, and it scores high on "professional hassle" and "cost" because I'll be without the car and need to drop it off and that, and it'll cost a fair amount for the ease of the job. But, on the other hand, it's no fun at all, it means lying under the car fighting ancient parts and getting rust in my eyes. So I reckon it's a pro job. Changing the turbo? Lots of work but interesting to do, so I did it myself.

1 - I understand technique easily enough but do appreciate I lack the skill to perform said technique to a high standard, but I like having a go and figuring things out. I am usually surprised at how simple some jobs can be it's the time it takes to do them that puts me off.
I do no paid work that involves use of tools. However yesterday having just got home from holiday I decided to have a go at fitting a new kitchen tap. Whilst doing so I removed the kitchen sink, re sealed everything and then successfully completed the job. Whilst waiting for the sealant to dry I nipped off and built the end frames for the bed in my ongoing monster van conversion. I have never done any of these jobs before. Currently, I feel quite pleased with myself 😀 (but secretly I keep having cataclysmic visions of returning home to a flooded kitchen).

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I try so hard to read instructions,

That could be the issue. It's not about following instructions, although you do need to read them, it's about understanding how things work and how materials and systems behave. Instructions are written by someone who has deep understanding of these things, and may not understand the viewpoint of someone who does not.

See also cooking.

Oiling a chain? Do it myself.
Reconstructive surgery? Get a professional to do it

I have recently had reason to tune my competence parameters. I will continue to be 1, but will try harder not to bollox stuff up.

CFH thats's quite prophetic as Stoner notes 😐

For me depends very much what it is, appreciation of competance and lack of it, practical things I am generally poor at. Happy to rebuild computers, would not put anything of value on a shelf I put up

Mainly 1 but slowly learning as and when to apply 2.

it appears to be a slow learning curve!

CFH thats's quite prophetic as Stoner notes

ORLY?

If it was easier to get trades in and do a good job I'd be more inclined to 2, as it is it seems easier to do the work yourself.

And I'm still annoyed that one of the few things we paid someone to do they managed to get wrong - Kitchen spotlights not in a straight line.

Am actually looking forward to doing a bit of plastering again, one of my favourite DIY jobs.

CFH thats's quite prosthetic as Stoner notes

FTFY

I used to be a 1 for everything. Now I'm older and no longer have the spare time for most things, so have become a reluctant 2.

But I do save the odd job for me. Usually something outside, or a bit built-in furniture that I can build with my kids.

@ourman excellent 🙂

Bit like Yak. I prefer to be a 1 (except plastering I flipping hate plastering and I'm crap at it) but often go 2 to get it done as time is at such a premium.

Being stuck behind a desk doing something cerebral all week makes me want to do something practical,creative or physical in my spare time. I encourage the same in my children learn to use the brains and the hands to keep your options in life open.