Not a Waste of Time
Working on what you own is never a waste of time. You’ve probably heard the expression, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” in this case working on something that doesn’t need to be worked on can in fact be a waste of time. The amount of money you can save by working on something yourself is mind boggling when you stop and really think about it. Whether it be home improvement situations or a broken car. True not everyone has the skills that are required for a particular job, but you may be surprised what you can accomplish if you do a little reading, research and asking around.
Ask a Professional
If you are attempting to work on your home, car, boat or any other possession you own, there is someone out there who is a professional at it. Pick up the phone, get online or watch an instructional video. You tube is full of free videos that you can watch that show step by step how to’s on so many topics. If you still dont feel confident about the task you are trying to accomplish, do some research online. There are countless websites set up to offer tips and advice on how to accomplish just about any job. Still dont feel confident? Pick up the phone. Look through your local phone book and call a professional. True not all people will give you the time of day, but you will find that most people are willing to share a little advice over the phone if approached in a warm friendly manner. Do not ask 20 questions, have a particular question already prepared and stick to it. Don’t waste their time, and be brief.
When all else fails
So you have tried all the above suggestions, and still don’t feel as confident about a job as you would like. You now have a couple options, dive in head first and just give it your best shot. Chances are you can’t mess it up any more than it already is, so why not give it a shot? If you still dont think it is something you can do, or you tried and completely failed, you can always hire a professional to come in and fix your mess.
So my personal example of failing at trying to fix my home may make you feel a little better about attempting a task around your home. Last year we had several tropical storms come through and were on the edge of a hurricane. Some of our siding was damaged and needed to be repaired. I have installed fiber cement siding in the past and really its not all that hard. Repairing damaged siding however is quite a bit different. Siding overlaps the previous piece and so on and so forth up the side of the house. This overlapping really makes repairing the siding kinda difficult. I was really nervous about making it worse cause I wasn’t 100% sure what to do, but I researched several sites, and even talked to a couple different contractors. I had a contractor come out to the house and give me an estimate of $579.00 to replace the damaged siding. I thought to myself that If it took me all day or even all week to do this repair it would be worth saving the money.
So I dove in, head first not knowing what would be the final outcome. Well needless to say, I really didn’t get very far. I spent about 6 hours pulling off the damaged siding and trying to figure out how to reinstall the new siding. Well after so many hours of staring at the wall I gave in and called back the contractor who gave me the bid. So he comes out the next day to repair my home and actually gave me a 150 discount for the fact that I had pulled off all of the damaged siding. So it wasn’t a total loss and I look at it like I got paid 150 bucks to tear off the damaged siding.
I hope my experience motivates you to try to repair something you may own whenever it may need fixing. Working on your own property is never a waste of time and in fact is time well spent. There are many ways to ask for help or simply research the task at hand. Take your time and be confident that you can accomplish anything you put your mind to. You may fail like I did, but at least you tried!
Comments are closed.