I happily DIY things, but for the joy of self sufficiency.
USA software engineer bias: At several 100k raises possible (which you receive every year going forward), even 50k one time savings are drops in the bucket over the course of a career.
I found the hourly rate of tradesmen to be comparable to software engineer rates ($150-$200 per hour). But because I work on salary, one hour or my time does not directly increase my cash flow. Also, I’m senior enough in my career that effort alone does not equate to salary increase.
Your mileage may vary of course.
1. Depth vs breadth of skills: You could double down and become the most efficient software engineer, giving you great depth of skills and you could just pay people to do things for you. This leads to a boring life and a flat personality in my opinion. I know too many people who just know how to do one thing well. They are very boring to talk to, don't have many original thoughts, and just annoy me to be honest.
2. Control over your environment: It is a great feeling knowing you are the master of your environment and not beholden to anyone to get things done. Knowing I have control of my environment is a great mental relief and frees my mind to think how things should be done in a fun engineering mindset.
3. General understanding on how things work. I am a polymath and want to know how everything works. By DIYing you need to understand the fundamentals of how a lot of different things work to come up with a solution to problems. It's a good mental exercise.
4. Exercise: I have yet to find a better workout than manually digging foundations or chopping down trees for firewood. Most importantly, it get you away from your computer.
re 4/ Manually digging or chopping down trees has a high body tax. Non-symmetrical high impact motions are terrible for your body. Plus there is risk in falling in a whole or a tree landing on you. IMHO, low impact cardio (e.g. walking) or weight training with slow controlled movements at medium weight offers a safer alternative to manual labor.
If DIY makes you happy, then sure. But purely from a logical standpoint, its not efficient.
> Fixing my deck and expanding it: contractor wanted $55k, I did it for $7k
> Leaky pipe in ceiling: plumber wanted $1k, I fixed it for $25.
How did you learn to do these things? There are many chances where things could go horribly wrong.
- Electrician U: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCB3jUEyCLRbCw7QED0vnXYg
- Home RenoVision DIY: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCnorhjQR4zJkT7AVNhu395Q