Do-it-yourselfer here.

[Balisidar]

Hi all,

Since I was young I have always done things myself.  I have always been a hands on guy and enjoyed working with machinery, electronics etc.  Probably why I became an electronics technician.

So here we are in the Philippines and the other day I looked around at some of the plumbing in our house and thought "This is such crappy materials that were used in the plumbing."  Lots of zinc and not much stainless steel.  Metal where there should be plastic, turn off valves that are zinc, hoses that are crappy etc.

So talked to the wife about buying some quality stainless steel plumbing and replacing everything in the kitchens, bathrooms and outside areas.

So went shopping through lazada and bought some good quality stuff and got ready to start replacing things.

I started in the bathroom and was starting to replace the sink and everything, get out all the old rusted stuff and replace it with new plastic and stainless steel items.  I was sweating heavily and then I thought to myself "What are you doing fool?  This isn't the United States where you're trying to save yourself thousands of dollars!  This is the Philippines so give some good workers some jobs!"

So my wife and I looked up some plumbers who were working on a house next to us.  I had looked at their work and was satisfied they were competent.  Arranged for them to do the work on one of their days off and paid them a couple of thousand pesos for the jobs. I didn't sweat and labor, we got new plumbing and they got extra money to take home to their families.  We kept their phone numbers in case we need them in the future.

  Win Win Win and I don't have to be such a cheap bastard anymore😂😂

[Clermont]

2 hours ago, Balisidar said:

So my wife and I looked up some plumbers who were working on a house next to us.  I had looked at their work and was satisfied they were competent.  Arranged for them to do the work on one of their days off and paid them a couple of thousand pesos for the jobs. I didn't sweat and labor, we got new plumbing and they got extra money to take home to their families.  We kept their phone numbers in case we need them in the future.

Yes I am the same as you, hands on but since being over here I don't do anything, I check the tradesmen work out and if their good they can do it.

[hk blues]

If it's something I can do myself I'd prefer to as long as I have the time.  I'm actually in the process of doing some painting work which I could easily get someone to do but I quite enjoy doing it and I know how good (or bad!) a job I'll do.  

[stevewool]

I enjoy DIY , just decorating a bedroom at the moment , infact I’m waiting for the undercoat to dry before I put on the top coat , wallpaper up and waiting for that to dry too, but everything now takes a little longer and if I’m on my knees painting the skirting boards I have to do a parachute roll to something that I can pull myself up sometimes 

[jimeve]

1 hour ago, stevewool said:

I enjoy DIY , just decorating a bedroom at the moment , infact I’m waiting for the undercoat to dry before I put on the top coat , wallpaper up and waiting for that to dry too, but everything now takes a little longer and if I’m on my knees painting the skirting boards I have to do a parachute roll to something that I can pull myself up sometimes 

Dodgy knees, that's why I took early retirement. Cutting in the skirts meant I had to be on my knees  and had to have a pair of steps to hull myself up. Jobs were taking too long and I had to cherry-pick my jobs. Happy re- tired 7 years sort of, still doing paint jobs around the house.

[Snowy79]

I'm a hands on guy myself and unfortunately due to seeing so many bad tradesmen here I find it's less stressful for myself just to do it.

Maybe I've just struck unlucky but even recommended tradesmen that have turned up I've had to redo most jobs or I've wasted half a day or longer waiting for them to arrive at the promised time. 

My final deal breaker was a few who I tried to help out by giving little jobs to, started extracting the urine with prices. Jobs I initially paid just over 2k for they started quoting 4.5k. Even my neighbour mentioned how they've started bumping prices up for her. 

[Mike J]

The nice thing about us "do it yourselfers" is we still know crap work when we see it.  And that is true even if we are too old, stiff, and sore to do it ourselves.  Have had the entire plumbing and electric torn out and replaced in two houses.   Quality work and very reasonable labor prices when you get dependable skilled workers.  Finding those workers can be the difficult part of the job.

[hk blues]

5 hours ago, Mike J said:

The nice thing about us "do it yourselfers" is we still know crap work when we see it.  And that is true even if we are too old, stiff, and sore to do it ourselves.  Have had the entire plumbing and electric torn out and replaced in two houses.   Quality work and very reasonable labor prices when you get dependable skilled workers.  Finding those workers can be the difficult part of the job.

And even when you have found one it can go South - we used a guy a couple of times before for aluminium window work and he did a very good job.  This time not so much.  As far as I can see he simply has too many projects on the go at once and as such cannot cope and is dependent on the quality of the guys he hires but we hired him, not them so that's been an issue.  

[GeoffH]

One example of local trades fails sticks in my mind, we'd bought a new TV for the sala (the old one was being relegated to the bedroom).

Not really wanting to mount the swivel TV mount myself as it was in an awkward place and a bit high (I'm not a fan of step ladders these days) I paid the shops installers to do the install.

Two turned up, with the TV and the mount, and unpacked the TV, marked the mount point for the wall bracket and then stopped.

When I asked they said the boss hadn't brought the drill yet, I said that's ok, you can borrow mine just for today, as long as you don't take it out of the house (it was a cheapy chinese one with a set of drill bits included but it worked ok).

A bit later (after hearing much drilling) the better half comes upstairs and says my drill isn't working... *huh?*

I walk downstairs and find that they haven't switched my hammer drill to hammer (concrete wall) and that they've got the drill spinning backwards... they'd drilled 3 holes by force and persistence (stuffing a drill bit in the process).

 

I sighed, took the drill off them, went and got a drill bit from the drill bit set I'd bought, clicked the drill into 'drill' instead of 'extract' and flipped it into hammer mode.

Then I proceded to drill 2 holes in 2 minutes (they'd been going 45 minutes I reckon)... they were gobsmacked.

 

Turns out the boss used to hand them his drill already set up for drilling and they never knew what the switches did...


On the plus side the TV hasn't fallen off the wall 

Edited May 14 by GeoffH

[Tommy T.]

On 5/13/2024 at 10:16 AM, Balisidar said:

I had looked at their work and was satisfied they were competent. 

That's the key phrase! Then, as others already mentioned, you need to watch, even the better ones, to confirm they are doing what you want and the way you want it. I get tired of chasing some quality workers who, when faced with something they are not familiar with, get creative. I have experienced a few broken tools or parts as a result of "creativity."