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When is DIY Cost Effective?
Ah, the power of being able to say "I Did it Myself!" and the feeling that somehow you have saved untold amounts of money is very seductive and empowering. Yet, doing it yourself is not always the most overall cost effective path both in terms of time, money, and opportunity cost. So, how can you best decide when to DIY and when to hire an expert?
Recently my partner and I tackled a small (in theory!) DIY project on our deck. We had 3 boards in a little sunken step that enters the house that were rotted and warped. If that wasn't bad enough, a small colony of bumble bees had taken up residence beneath the boards. So, whenever you wanted to sit on the deck or go in or out of the house, you would be buzzed by bees (no pun intended). The pest control wanted $140 to eliminate the bees (been there, done that several years ago). We figured -- now that we're feeling all high and mighty and educated from participating in a Habitat for Humanity Women Build we can do this project. How hard could it be?? (famous last words).
Long story short we did succeed in both replacing all the boards, improving the step, and eliminating the bees. It feels great. Yet, what I thought would take about two hours stretched into many hours over the course of several days due to improperly cut boards (Lowes cut it their way, not to our measurements), stubborn returning bees, and the stupidity of the way the rest of the deck (and that step) were built once upon a time. In the end I feel great about our accomplishment and we learned alot. If I had to do it again, I'd probably still DIY, but it got me to thinking -- how cost effective is this really, when I factor in all the time spent doing it?
Nina at Queercents tackled this very question recently in "DIY vs. Hiring out: When is it worth the time and cost of doing it yourself?". She and her partner recently spent two weekends
So what exactly did we do? We applied floor coating, installed shelves and made two trips to the Goodwill. I’m not sure why we thought the floor and shelves were going to be too challenging to make this a do-it-yourself venture. But it stalled us for years and never got around to doing this project. We’ve had garage envy many a times when we’d see a friend’s garage with high-end epoxy floor coating. To have this professionally done, it will set you back about $1,500.
I try to follow the same rules as Madame X at MyOpenWallet when it comes to DIY projects:
* Don’t pay someone else to do what you can easily do yourself
* Pay others to do anything that you might really f**k up!
* If you can really make better use of the time, pay someone to do things that take up time
Nina made out well as the project cost them only $800 and two weekends of work saving them several thousand over hiring an expert.
The DIY approach to home projects is not a hard and fast calculation. Would you rather spend your time on the project or doing something fun and relaxing? How much time and energy do you have to invest in the project? After all, you are dealing with your "free time" and not trading off billable hours for administrivia as you might in business decisions that tackle the DIY question.
If you own your own business, the number of things you could possible DIY is astounding. For many in the startup phase, it is all about bootstrapping. Yet when does it make sense to do something yourself versus hire an expert?
As I see it there are two main categories to hire out for - the time wasters and the "I don't have the proper skill set" types of tasks. For the time wasters, many small and solo businesses hire a Virtual Assistant (VA) to handle administrative stuff. Time Saver VA shares in "8 Questions VA’s Hear All The Time":
Contract a VA and you’ll have more time to develop your organization, spend with your family, or to just relax. Our virtual assistant services help you reclaim the time you lose
