Minor DIY success

[sv2007]

What does that mean exactly? Did you hire a Home Depot employee to come do the job? Did you strike up a conversation with another customer who you then hired?

Obviously, it's not DIY if you hired someone else to do it. I'm just curious how you lined up the person who did the job because I think that's good out-of-the-box thinking that sounds like it saved you a bunch of money.

What's the difference? In a way, I did the job myself -- by putting all the pieces together.

Perhaps I should have used the term "day labor". These guys are really good at landscaping. You find them at Home Depot parking lot.

[sv2007]

Amigos hanging out at home improvement stores....generally you can get them to help you with whatever for $10/hr cash

There are a few things these guys are extremely good at: landscaping, painting, moving. The current rate in SF bay area is $150/day (as they mostly expect an entire day's work); you'd supply lunch/water/transportation.

[disneysteve]

What's the difference? In a way, I did the job myself -- by putting all the pieces together.

When I say DIY, I mean I did it MYSELF (or with my wife and/or daughter). I don't mean I paid someone else to do it for me.

[QuarterMillionMan]

My 2007 Dakota truck has 109,000 miles so I'm doing some preventative maintenance. Normally I would change the top ($9.99 from Parts online) and bottom ($12.99 from Parts online) radiator hoses myself but due to living in an apartment and not being able to capture all the antifreeze in an environmentally responsible manner, I took my truck to Pepboys and paid $228. This is an example where DIY can really save a lot of money.

[rerod]

My 2007 Dakota truck has 109,000 miles so I'm doing some preventative maintenance. Normally I would change the top ($9.99 from Parts online) and bottom ($12.99 from Parts online) radiator hoses myself but due to living in an apartment and not being able to capture all the antifreeze in an environmentally responsible manner, I took my truck to Pepboys and paid $228. This is an example where DIY can really save a lot of money.

It depends on your means.
Not crawling around under your car in the parking lot for who knows how long, and then finding a place to take your old radiator fluid was probably worth the $200.

[disneysteve]

My daughter took her car in for a repair today that I wasn't interested in tackling ourselves. Of course, they did their multipoint inspection and listed a number of recommended services. Some are things that I will definitely pay a pro for. Others are ones that we will do ourselves.

Windshield wiper blades:
Shop: $23.87; DIY from Amazon: $15.22

Cabin air filter:
Shop: $64.19; DIY from Amazon: $9.73

Total savings just on those 2 items: $63.11. Plus a good life lesson for DD.

[rerod]

Careful with amazon car parts as Iv received a few parts which weren't correct. Cross check the part number at RockAuto and you might see a cheaper price as well.

[lirpalynn]

I believe this is a regional thing. The first time I saw this was in CA, and had to ask my BIL why people were hanging out by the dozens outside a Home Depot we passed.

Crazy! I wish there were people hanging out like that looking for work here in MI. I'd totally take them up on it, being a single girl with lots of physical labor things on my to-do list!

[Nutria]

Crazy! I wish there were people hanging out like that looking for work here in MI. I'd totally take them up on it, being a single girl with lots of physical labor things on my to-do list!

They're illegal Mexicans (and presumably Central Americans too) looking for subcontractors to hire them for cash day labor. My father uses them too, a lot in TX and LA (not L.A. ).

(Anyway... I'd be seriously unhappy if my daughter hired some random stranger off the street to come into her home -- the two of them alone.)

[QuarterMillionMan]

The radiator hoses repair that I posted earlier wasn't a DIY since I paid Pepboys.

This serpentine belt ($24.99) is a DIY which I just replaced today. BTW this is the old belt.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I consider this a DIY, calculated my General Excise (GE) tax use for the State of Hawaii on a rental property income generated for 2016. On a side note Hawaii has one of the lowest GE tax rates at 4%. Hawaii recently added a 1/2% tax to help pay for the stupid light rail system that is plagued with problems (ie, cost over runs, compromised/defective structural integrity, numerous leadership changes, etc), but I digress.

[bjl584]

I changed the fuel injectors in an old truck that I used to own a few years back. It was a $300 part. I don't know what labor would have been on something like that, but I would guess that it would be close to $1000.

Currently, I'm remodeling a bathroom. I only have a few hundred in material costs invested in it so far. If I was paying someone for that I would expect to pay several thousand.

[scfr]

Yesterday DH & I washed all of our screens and windows (inside & out), AND cleaned all of the window tracks. And while we were at it and had the ladder out, we also cleaned some exterior hardware.

That may not meet the classic definition of DIY, but I think it's the sort of job many people hire out these days and while I don't know what we would have had to pay someone to do it, I guess we saved a couple hundred bucks. Plus, I don't think a typical for-hire window washer would clean the tracks (time consuming and gross).

One advantage of DIY is that you notice other things going on with your house. For example, we noticed that brick on the sill under DH's office window is turning a bit green, so that is something we will investigate. If you are not doing your own home & yard upkeep, if you hire someone to do it and they don't notify you when problems develop, it could end up costing you a lot more than just the cost to hire out the work. Our neighbors had a slow leak inside one of their walls for several years. It was in a spot where they didn't notice. The only person who saw it was their housekeeper who didn't say anything. That resulted in an awfully big repair job.

[greenskeeper]

BTW this is the old belt.

If the old belt is still function-able I'd hold on to it and store it with the spare along with the wrench needed to change. That way you'll have a belt good enough to get you to your destination.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Good call.