Value of knowing how and able to DIY /paying someone

[John Carpenter]

How much do you save if you choose DIY ?

Do you think 30% or 40onaverage? Some cases is it 50%?
don't have mega bucks to jump in with
one benefit of knowing how its done is knowing when someone is trying to take advantage
If I own a property free and clear and time is not an issue(I understand it actually is as far as with help it could be flipped or rented faster ). but lets imagine its not

I am trying to decide if its worth it
Can do brick block and rock and everything up to shingles on roof
And am friends with hvac and a plumber and several electricians where I cannot diy
I think that DIY is the best option for me to get into investing as its the only part of the game I know
Lots of things to read and think about here at bigger pockets
And I have to start somehow

[J Scott]

Originally posted by Seth Williams:

e.g. - Does Donald Trump maintain his billionaire status by personally unclogging every toilet in the Trump Tower? Of course not.

Not only does he not maintain his status by doing the grunt work, he didn't achieve his status by doing the grunt work.

In my opinion, there is a specific mentality associated with the attitude, "I'll do work myself to save money." And I don't tend to see that mentality with most successful business owners. The reason is, if you can never let go of that mentality, it's very difficult to scale a business, because you will never give yourself the time to focus on scaling your business.

Many successful business owners I know hire everything out -- from grocery shopping to cooking meals to buying clothes. That's because they recognize these things can be done just as successfully for a lot less money than their time is worth working ON the business.

If your goal is to invest as a hobby or as a part-time venture, then do what makes you happy. But, if your goal is to build a sustainable and scalable business, this is going to take a lot of time and effort, and you can't devote that time when you're busy swinging a hammer.

Here's an example of how you're losing money by doing the work yourself -- if it were going to take you 15 hours to frame a basement, I'd suggest you instead spend those 15 hours finding cheaper suppliers or negotiating with your suppliers for better prices. You may save $400 on the framing by doing it yourself, but over the lifetime of your business, spending that 15 hours driving down your materials prices will likely save you THOUSANDS of dollars in materials costs!

Would you rather save $400 or thousands of dollars?

But wait!!! There's more...

After you hire someone to frame the basement, instead of spending your time negotiating with your suppliers, go hire someone who's a good negotiator for 15 hours at $50 to negotiate your prices down for you. You'll spend $400 on the framer and $750 on the negotiator, but you will save you thousands of dollars on materials. You've already made money by doing that, and in addition you still have 15 hours to be doing other stuff!

What other stuff you might ask?

How about going out and finding private lenders who will give you more (or cheaper) money to do more deals -- that will ultimately result in tens (or hundreds) of thousands of dollars in your pocket.

It's not hard to see how framing that basement yourself (and saving you $400) is actually costing you tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. And that's honestly not an exaggeration.

I make a decent amount of money in this business...if I were to be involved in the actual renovation work, I'd make a lot LESS money. But, I could make a whole lot MORE money if I took my own advice and did even less of the grunt work in my business than I currently do.

But again, if you're just looking for a hobby or part-time business and you enjoy the renovation work, go for it!