Photo by Roselyn Tirado on Unsplash
We’re constantly seeking ways to both improve our business but save money at the same time. That can lead to the dangerous dynamic of “I’ll do it myself.”
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Doing more with less can turn us into idiots. Our hubris and arrogance puts our idiocy into action. Sorry—I got a little ranty right out of the gate. Let me hit rewind.
OK, we want to improve and save money. So maybe we can do it ourself. We take on tasks and projects ourselves instead of hiring experts or service providers who specialize in the task. The idea looks good on paper. But it can be really stupid (like a kid who tries to give himself a haircut).
Allow me to illustrate. Many of you own homes. More often than not, something goes wrong with something in your house. Either a pipe gets clogged up, roof shingles fly off, or you simply need a fresh coat of paint. Given we’re all trying to be frugal in a difficult economy, the notion of popping down to Lowe’s or Home Depot comes to mind with visions of being a handy, dandy Bob the Builder, “We can fix it!” home improvement hero.
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Comments
Do it yourself
Couldn't disagree more. Having done nearly all of my own home, automotive, (medical if they would give me the tools) work, I've learned that developing the skill to handle all situations is priceless. The more correct version, in my opinion, is if you're not inclined to follow your curiosity and learn how to do things the right way, hire a professional and live with the results. Based on 40 years of personal and professional experience, the experts will place profit over quality every time.
Home-grown SPC headaches
People often try to cobble together Six Sigma, SPC and MSA Excel templates from various sources to "save money." Unfortunately, this takes a lot of time and produces a ragtag collection of unmaintainable stuff that is abandoned once the developer leaves or gets promoted.
The solution: Spend a few hundred dollars and buy a robust software product that does it all and has been validated by thousands of companies and users.
Fredrick Brooks, author of the Mythical Man Month, said "Don't build software yourself if you can buy it off the shelf." Sage advice.
It depends on the job
You can often save a lot of money by doing the job yourself. Lowes is actually about a 10 minute round trip walk for me so I buy things there all the time. It's fairly straightforward to put a new flush valve into a toilet (rather than pay a plumber upward of $100 an hour), and I was even able to replace a garbage disposal and a sink. The sink admittedly took 4 hours when a plumber might have needed 1, but the job got done.
On the other hand, I did pay a plumber for more complicated work such as actual installation of a toilet (one does not want to get the seal wrong), and a roofer to put on new shingles. Just to begin with, one needs to get onto the roof and, while I know fall protection is needed, I don't have the equipment or the training in how to use it.
One must therefore use judgement as to what you can do yourself, and when you should pay for expert advice.
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