Home Improvement

lurkingdirk

lurkingdirk

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Deathwing said:
Is this all born out of a society that promotes college over trades?
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I think you hit the nail on the head right there. For quite a while in North America kids who go to trades programs rather than a four year university have been looked down on, and even considered not as smart because they're going to do "manual labour." This is absolute bullshit. I have more education than most, have taught at a couple elite universities, and now I'm fixing houses and I like it so much better than what I was doing. People need to remember that without trades people the would would stop.
 
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Lanx

Lanx

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lurkingdirk said:
I think you hit the nail on the head right there. For quite a while in North America kids who go to trades programs rather than a four year university have been looked down on, and even considered not as smart because they're going to do "manual labour." This is absolute bullshit. I have more education than most, have taught at a couple elite universities, and now I'm fixing houses and I like it so much better than what I was doing. People need to remember that without trades people the would would stop.
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Captain Suave

Captain Suave

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lurkingdirk said:
I think you hit the nail on the head right there. For quite a while in North America kids who go to trades programs rather than a four year university have been looked down on, and even considered not as smart because they're going to do "manual labour." This is absolute bullshit. I have more education than most, have taught at a couple elite universities, and now I'm fixing houses and I like it so much better than what I was doing. People need to remember that without trades people the would would stop.
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Anyone who has tried to hire a tradeseman recently is acutely aware of this. I can barely get plumbers or electricians to return my calls because they have as much work as they want at almost whatever they feel like charging. At this point if you've got a job less than a full house remodel it's very nearly cheaper and faster to just buy the tools and figure out how to do it yourself.
 
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lurkingdirk

lurkingdirk

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Captain Suave said:
Anyone who has tried to hire a tradeseman recently is acutely aware of this. I can barely get plumbers or electricians to return my calls because they have as much work as they want at almost whatever they feel like charging. At this point if you've got a job less than a full house remodel it's very nearly cheaper and faster to just buy the tools and figure out how to do it yourself.
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There's such a shortage it is crazy. Other folks I know who do similar work to me can not find people to work. No one has the skills. And if they do, they're stupidly lazy. I know folks who will say a guy's a good worker if he just shows up. It's so hard to find people. If you don't want a complete kitchen remodel, or a huge master bath remodel, the larger companies won't touch you. We need not just people who can do the jobs, but people who are willing to go out and change light fixtures, do small repairs, all of it. I have several clients who are elderly and not able to walk well, so can't get on a ladder. I happily show up to do small things like change lightbulbs, change the filter on their fridge water, whatever. I also get so bloody pissed when people rip off folks, especially elderly. People prey on them. One of my clients had a guy show up to replace their sump pump. $225 show up fee, he got paid, then left to get parts and never came back. That kind of shit happens so much.
 
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BrutulTM

BrutulTM

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Deathwing said:
I've had some thoughts about this as it's been a frequent issue since buying a home. My dad has more know-how and tools than I do. I don't know how he compares to his dad. I've done a terrible job at imparting my limited knowledge to my kid, in part because he hasn't shown interest and I know it won't stick if he's not motivated. This is the main reason I'm worse at it than my dad. So, it's frustrating that I don't feel proficient enough to fix stuff around my own house. AND it's really frustrating that I realize I won't become proficient in some of these things because I won't exercise the skills often enough. How often do you replace a roof? Yes, I realize that's bad example, but I picked it for long time window and relatively specific skills.

That said, I have no problem paying other people to fix stuff. My career exists in part because lot of people decided to pay other people to deal with computer issues. If I were to guess, I'd say some part of your viewership is frustrated at the unreliability and/or cost of people they'd like to pay to fix things, so they feel they have no choice but to do it themselves.
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I live 50 miles out of town so the problem with getting tradespeople to come out here is much worse. We finally got a guy to do a remodel at my Mom's house but we had to wait a full year for him to get to us. Other people will just give us a ridiculous quote rather than saying they don't want the job. I can't blame them. If you have all the work you can handle in town, why would you want to drive an hour to get to work every day? And if you find out you need a part you can't get it until tomorrow unless you want to drive 2 hours so you have to buy extra shit so you have everything you might need or risk wasting a lot of your day.

Luckily my brother was an electrician before he came back to the ranch so that part at least we can get done. He also does a fair amount of electrical work for the neighbors, not because he wants to, but because he knows they can't get anyone to come out to their place for a small job.

I also have the problem with the DIY stuff. Given enough time and YouTube videos, I've been able to remodel my house by myself, but it took me a *ridiculous* amount of time and a lot of the work is far from perfect. Usually by the end of the project, I'm getting somewhat proficient, but I'm not going to go back and redo the first shit I did and it will be years before I have a reason to do it again at which time I will nearly be starting from scratch. I love buying the tools so that part I don't mind.
 
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Julian The Apostate

Julian The Apostate

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Kajiimagi said:
Yep when I bought the place I have now (all ROCKS baby!) there were still 4-5 pine trees still alive. Fuck them I had them ripped out. Contractor was like 'are you sure these are nice trees'? I told him he was welcome to take them to his house as long as he filled in the root bulb hole.
Fuck a tree and double fuck a pine tree.
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this you bro?

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