The thing is, though, the author learned some useful lessons about how new construction houses can be a bit unfinished. I'm sure when the next household task comes up, he'll sit down and look at every step of the task first to see if he can make any of those unknown unknowns, well, known, before he drives out to the hardware store.

I can certainly see someone at this point deciding it isn't worth the effort, and hiring people from then on, but some people (myself included) often enjoy the process of learning these things.