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When spending time in front of the computer, I have to make some calculations about how to best budget and divide my time amongst the menu of online activities: writing blog posts, posting comments on other PF blogs, spending time on forums, answering emails and Facebook messages, researching stocks and finance (mostly mining stocks), and just plain time-suck web surfing.
I calculated that given our ROI over the last few years actively managing our finances (and even despite recent setbacks in the commodity space), that the limited time spent on online on research is worth between $75 and $100 an hour. When doing projects around the house or for the Mrs., I’ve been know to shamelessly propound this fact, if only to get out of doing something unpleasant.
Except that it doesn’t always apply as one-for-one opportunity cost.
Take for example a few weeks ago.
It was the day after I my return from a business trip to Europe, and I was a little tired from jet lag. During my absence, Mrs. 101 had had to call a plumber to take care of a faucet leak in the kitchen. Didn’t take long for the Roto-Rooter plumber to fix the leak, and inform her that the internal part needed for the faucet he couldn’t get, as there was no brand name on the fixture. It had been over eight years since we purchased (or rather, Mrs. 101 purchased — I had minimal input into this design aspect) the fixture from a specialty store, so the best solution was to go back to the store and see if they could identify it.
Of course, that was not to be. The specialty kitchen store had a collective (one could say convenient) memory lapse, couldn’t identify the faucet, and only helpfully suggested that we buy another one. Given the nose-bleed prices of most of their products (our original faucet was around $300 — it was a nice one), we decided to flip a metaphorical middle finger to the hoity-toity store and get a replacement from Lowe’s or Home Depot.
After a trip to Lowe’s, picking up a mid-range $159 Moen fixture, I was feeling more than a little bushed from the after-effects of the air travel, so all I was looking forward to doing was a nap on the couch. As we know, that’s about the worst thing for jet lag. You sleep in the afternoon, and wake up wide-eyed at one o’clock in the morning, ready to get up and at ‘em.
Mrs. 101 had to have her faucet installed though, and I was due back at work the next day. If I didn’t put in the faucet that Sunday, Mrs. 101 was going to call the plumber on Monday. I could see her point, washing pots and dishes in the guest bathroom loses its appeal after a couple of days. A hundred bucks for a return plumbing visit! My tight little miserly heart couldn’t bear it. This, I can do. After a cup or two of coffee, I found my second wind, broke out the plumbing toolbox, and got down (literally) to installing the new faucet.
Bottom line is, I spent a little over two hours putting the damn thing in, getting in and out on my back under the sink, forgetting tools, banging my head on the angle valves, turning the air blue with curses, to the conclusion that I am the worst plumber in the city. I also had to hear “Maybe we should have called the guy” several times. I know, the Roto-Rooter guy would have been in and out in 30 minutes, but still would have charged us over a hundred bucks.
So, coming back to the original premise, was my time worth fifty bucks an hour, or seventy-five to a hundred bucks an hour? Considering that I had absolutely no intention of getting online and looking up background on the stock trade of the century, but rather taking a nap on the couch, this project gets to be listed under cost avoidance of fifty bucks an hour.
Then of course, not to be easily dismissed, there’s the intangible benefits of hitching up your pants with a manly sniff, and saying with deep satisfaction, “There, I fixed it!”. There’s having the boys help me with the tools and having them see Dad just fix stuff — something they’ll hopefully remember one day. And last but not least, no visual exposure to plumber’s butt crack. A win all around.
What do you think, readers? Have you knuckled down to home repairs rather than call a specialist? When is it time to call “the guy”?
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My time blogging certainly isn’t worth what a plumber would charge. But my DIY projects have saved a ton of money.
The Biz of Life recently posted..David Stockman on Bernanke and the Blackberry Panic of 2008
Hi Biz – my blogging time is worth exactly zero – at least for now.
About 8 months ago I decided to install 2 low flow toilets. It took me about 5 hours total to get them installed (see my name for link on hot to install one!). A plumber would have run me $150 an hour and I think they could have gotten it done in about 3 hours. Fact is, uninstalling an old toilet then putting a new one in takes time. My contractor pal told me it would take him 3 hrs to do the work. So I would have paid $450 + 13% in sales tax to the tune of $508.50. So doing it myself saved a bit over $100 per hour. And, I also learned how to install a toilet. Lastly, I got the satisfaction of doing it myself and showing my friends and family that with a little research and elbow grease some of these otherwise expensive jobs can be DIY.
Sustainable PF recently posted..Our Sustainable Personal Financial Plan: The Future
Hi SPF – I’ve done the toilet installation thing, and you’re right, it’s not as easy as it looks, but the bragging rights are considerable.
Normally I would DIY, but maybe not when I’m jet lagged. It’s tough to do something right when you’re foggy like that. You got it done though, great job!
retirebyforty recently posted..2011 New Year’s Resolutions – Summer Update
Hi RB40 – I have to admit, what with the all the jet lag it was a toss-up. We have called the plumber when the work is gnarly enough to risk home flooding, but a faucet install? That I could do.
It sounds like your own personal H-E-double hockey sticks.
I’m always telling my girlfriends, ‘just cause I can do it doesn’t mean I want to!’ Personally it drives me crazy because we don’t have the time (or often the passion) to do all the repairs that need to get done. As you experienced it’s a double edge sword. Years ago I was visiting my sister and her toilet was leaking. I hate replacing the innards of a toilet. It’s finicky and can take hours. I convinced her to let me just replace the entire toilet. It was still cheaper than hiring a plumber and I had the old one out and the new one install in just over an hour.
Molly On Money recently posted..Health Insurance Here I Come!
A good decision…. messing with tank guts seems to need more than one trip to the hardware store, and multiple install iterations.
[...] Are You Worth As Much as a Plumber? (101 Centavos) [...]
Just like paying someone to fix it, the more you DIY, the more you save!
Robert @ The College Investor recently posted..Help Your Parents With Personal Finance, Help Yourself
Hi Robert – doing it yourself whenever possible cuts builds skills, no doubt about it. Sometimes time limitations make it unavoidable, so I still feel just a bit guilty when we do have to hire it out.
Hey. Don’t get so down on yourself. No one is meant to be good at everything. I think it is good to DIY and save money but there is a reason why people go to university and college to get training too. Some things require expertise. It is for those things that outsourcing makes sense. And remember time is money so outsourcing to save yourself time for other things does make sense in some cases too.
Miss T @ Prairie Eco-Thrifter recently posted..Seven Reasons To Avoid Penny Auction Sites
I know, my rational self agrees that outsourcing is leveraged time, but my emotional self wallows in guilt. Well, maybe “wallows” is a little strong, let’s say instead “splashes through the occasional puddle of guilt”.
Great post, seriously! I think its nice to have done it yourself, just so you can be able to keep your plumbing skills up. With the DIY job, you’re guaranteed to save $50 an hour. With researching investing stocks, that’s not a 100% guarantee of $75 an hour ROI.
I wish my boyfriend was my DIY inclined, but he isn’t.
Though calling someone to do it would save a lot of strain between the relationship (less “honey, when are you planning to fix it?” on a daily basis… which can be priceless!).
youngandthrifty recently posted..2011 Personal New Years Resolutions- a Mid-year Check-In
Thanks, Y&T.
I have a loooong list of “Honey, when are you planning to fix it”. It’s a formal list that I keep on my to-do clipboard, and I can hear it calling even now…
I love doing things myself.
I have also installed a sink faucet. I fixed our garbage disposal. I installed our kitchen ceiling fan with one of those pretty medallions and about 7 other light fixtures around our house. I put in a tile back splash in our kitchen. I really enjoy it. It is nice to say. “Look, I did that,” or “I fixed that.” Not to mention how much money we have saved.
But I do know my limits we hired someone to reno our bathroom (we did do the demo though) and to paint our house (that it just torture)
Niki recently posted..A Month of Batch Cooking, So Far So Good
Wow… I’m a little lost in admiration at your DIY-fu.
Painting is one of those things I absolutely detest, maybe because I worked at it for a living back in my youth.
I’m not a handy man, at all. I could possibly do more harm than good. With that in mind, I would call, miss on saving money, but I know my limitations. I save on blowing up the place and arguing with the wife on why I am not a handy man. I do miss on the learning and bragging rights, but in my specific case, the intangible costs are too high for me. That’s why it’s fun for me to read these stories because it is just so foreign to me. Kudos!
Buck Inspire recently posted..Flat Panel Mounting Pain
Hi Buck – as it were, we might share some of the same genes, since I’m not very mechanical by nature. To some people it comes naturally, but I have to work hard at it through trial and error. For example, I’ve replaced a number of door locks and deadbolts, and without fail, I install one thing or another *backwards* the first time around.
If you could’ve made or saved more money during that time *then* I would say the time spent fixing the leak wasn’t worth it.
If not, it’d just be an excuse to not do chores around the house!
MoneyCone recently posted..Unconventional Income From Uncommon Stocks – MLPs
Exactly – I wasn’t planning on doing much anything with those couple hours except veg on the couch.
[...] 101 Centavos asked if you’re worth as much as a plumber? [...]
[...] Are You Worth As Much as a Plumber? (101 Centavos) [...]
One perk of renting is that I always call the landlord and it is fixed within a few days. It is like magic.
I have helped my parents out a handful of times with big projects. I have changed toilets, locks, painted, put up shelves, etc. But it is way easier when the handyman does it.
Eric recently posted..What Price/Book Ratio Means in Investing
That right there is probably one of the top 3 reasons to being a renter, and a good friend’s main reason for getting out of the house rental business: he got tired of being a plumber.
I ALWAYS call the plumber. I’d mess things up. But, I called a hrrible plumber once, and he milked me for like $500 to fix the leaks and pipes under my sink.
He was just bad…… and that was a mistake.
I couldn’t do the work myself though.
Financial Samurai recently posted..The Best Career Advice From A Mentor
Hi Sam – some plumbing jobs I’m going to leave to the professionals. We have one in fact scheduled next week to swap out the hose bib in the front of the house.
101, another way to look at it is that investments don’t pay off unless you have sufficient capital. Saving after tax capital on a plumber is more than $50 per hour saved, it’s fifty + taxes that would be paid if you earned this money doing something else–and now you’ll have more to risk on investments. We used to do more things ourselves around the house, but out of necessity to save money, and now that our house has been paid off for a decade, we don’t do as much as before.
PW, you’re absolutely correct. After tax savings and cost avoidances need to have the taxes figured in as well.
[...] [...]
[...] Centavos debates when it is worth giving home repairs a shot on your own and when it is better to just call a [...]
[...] Are you worth as much as a plumber? 101 Centavos pondered this while changing out a faucet with jet lag. Go read to find out his conclusion. [...]
[...] 101 Centavos plows through a plumbing project while suffering from jet lag (ah the wonders of caffeine). This story totally reminded me of my dad. My dad was always working on a project of some sort, and was usually happy doing so. However, when it came to plumbing, I would run to the other room. It was about the only time I ever heard my dad swear and get really mad. I guess this is why plumbers are so valuable. [...]
I still like to fix the plumbing and maintain the cars. I could afford to have it done, but I like the feeling of doing it myself. It is a filthy job, but the manly feeling is priceless.
Bret @ Hope to Prosper recently posted..4 Important Lessons on Investing
The man points and bragging rights do have a certain value – along with the skinned knuckles and aching back
One time my MiL sent my DH an expensive massage showerhead for Christmas. He was so pleased — he’d been coveting one of those gadgets for a while. Forthwith he headed for the tool closet and emerged with a couple of wrenches.
Seems like an easy job, eh? Unscrew the old showerhead, screw the new one on?
Welp, the pipe that held the showerhead had other ideas. As soon as he applied a wrench, the thing broke off. INSIDE the wall!
The poor man! He was totally mortified!
We ended up calling the plumber, of course, after having spent the holiday with visions of having to pull out the newly tiled shower-stall wall to repair the plumbing. Mercifully, the plumber had a tool that allowed him to reach inside the wall and thread the pipe stump in there. Then he installed the necessary piping and attached the showerhead. Took him about 10 or 15 minutes.
IMHO, a good plumber who doesn’t rip you off is worth his weight in gold.
BTW, one such angel advised me NOT to buy fancy kitchen and bathroom fixtures from specialty stores because, he said, they don’t last any longer than the models from big-box stores, and in fact the construction inside them is no better than the mid-priced equivalents at Lowe’s or HD.
Funny about Money recently posted..Clean-up Day
Funny,
I have saved tens of thousands of dollars simply maintaining the house and cars. The first time you do the brakes, you figure out the parts cost $29.95, versus the $300 the shop wants to charge you and it takes about an hour.
Here in the O.C., contractors want a fortune for any small job and they act like you are too stupid to pound a couple of nails. We once got a bid for $6,000 to scrape the cottage cheese off our ceilings. I got a hose and did the living room in about two hours. By the time I got home from work the next day, my wife had finished the entire downstairs.
DIY is definitely not for everyone and it can go horribly wrong quickly. But it sure does feel good when you git ‘er done.
Bret
Bret @ Hope to Prosper recently posted..4 Important Lessons on Investing
Ah, if only I was paid $400 an hour…
Man points, my dear FAM, man points. Not to be so easily dismissed.
Hey Centavos,
I’m useless, mechanically. It takes me forever to do anything mechanical/practical so for me (personally) it’s better to pay someone.
Andrew Hallam recently posted..Did My Friend’s Investment Advisor Add Value?
my husband has done so much of our home repairs, especially in the plumbing arena–he’s installed 2 toilets, a sink, replaced a garbage disposal and fixed countless leaks. i can’t even begin to calculate how much money he’s saved us!
[...] is Doing it Yourself There was a fun discussion over at 101 Centavos last week on his post Are you Worth as much as a Plumber? Some of the commenters, such as The Biz of Life and 101 Centavos, were big fans of Doing It [...]