

Ask HN: Work on your own car/home or contract out? - jhallenworld

Replaced calipers&#x2F;rotors on my wife&#x27;s Passat, renovated a bathroom (led to updating some wiring in my old home).  Do hackers spend time on this stuff or spend their wealth on contractors?
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junto
Would you tell your clients to make their own website to save money, or use
you?

My personal feeling is that a specialist can always do the job better and
faster than you can. Same as you can write code faster than they can. Always
outsource unless you know what you are doing. Whilst you are learning on the
job renovating your bathroom, you could be earning money.

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maxehnert
I used to own a repair shop before getting into software. I still do all my
own maintenance on my vehicles and anything that needs to be fixed around the
house unless I don't have the capacity to do so. I enjoy doing this stuff, I
have the tools already, and I would probably just piss away the time saved
from hiring someone anyways.

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camhenlin
You're probably not going to be writing code during the time that you spend on
auto and home care, but those are things that you can include others in
without involving computers, such as non technical buddies that you've been
looking to catch up with, or your significant other.

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paulhauggis
What is more important to you: time or money? This will determine the choice
that you make.

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brogrammer90
I try to do everything myself because no reasonably priced mechanic or
contractor cares more about my stuff than me.

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morgantd
My sense is that if you're asking this question find someone else to handle it

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6d0debc071
Making/fixing things, at least for me, has an element of catharsis. It feels
nice to come home sometimes and put away the code and know I don't have to see
any more until Monday (or whenever) and to have that relaxation and sense of
accomplishment when something is _just right_ (a standard which can take a
long time to find a contractor for anyway.)

Not that programming isn't nice. It's just... sometimes you don't want it
then. Chocolate is nice too, but you don't want that all the time either.

Pretty rare for me to hire someone to do something. Unless it's plumbing or
working on the car. Those are a bit messy.

