Your philosophy on being able to do "Things"

Are you a…..

1. Crack on with it ” I’ll just build this” type

2. Get a man in.

I have been deeply entrenched in Number 1 over the years and it has led me to many a pickle. Part of the driver of course being money, but more than that a philosophy that you should be a able to do everything yourself, and I need to know what happens when you flick the light switch ( as Pirsig ). After 27 years doing my job I know I can do that to an expert level. The rest just a deluded Dilettante ?

There are of course some obvious exception in the modern world that perhaps we should avoid having a go at…Doctors come to mind, but everything else ? should we at least be giving it a go.

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…