The Sunday afternoon repair call

[Matthew Paul]

Today I get a call about water in the utility room of one of my houses . So I run over to check it out . And yes there is some water , but not much . I check the water heater and its fine , dont see any leaks , But the well pump is cycling and no one is using water . So I go outside and I see a sink hole about 3 ft from the house . I start shoveling and its now all mud . So here it is a Sunday , afternoon , and no one is going to be able to come out , so I roll up my sleeves and keep digging . About 1 hour later I find the problem . The plastic barbed ell that screws into the pitless adaptor has cracked at the threads .  Not good . So I cut the pipe and try to remove the fitting . So of course it breaks off leaving 1/2 the fitting in the pitless adaptor . So now I have to break out the torch and heat up the fitting to soften the plastic to remove it . It comes out but some melts to the metal threads . Now I have to run out to get parts and I pick up a 1 in male nipple so I can clean the threads by running it in and out a couple times . So in about another hour I have it all back together and the water back on .  So 2 hours of time and $14 of supplies .   

How much did I save by doing it myself ? 

[Johann Jells]

I'm with you @Matthew Paul. I often count the times I've saved hundreds with a few minutes of work. And that's not even getting into whether the "pro" would properly diagnose the problem. 

A few years back I was visiting friends in the Catskills and when I got there he apologized for breakfast taking so long because there was virtually no water in the faucet. He explained he had had 3 different professionals there, one of whom told him his well needed fracking and charged him thousands without solving the problem. I said " is the pressure in the bathroom (on the other side of the wall) OK?" Yes, he said. I walked over, disassembled and cleaned the screen on the faucet's pullout hose, and it was done. His jaw dropped. He's a lawyer and a smart guy, but he got taken by some incompetent and/or dishonest contractors. 

I'm a "mom & pop" landlord, not an empire builder. I have 13 units that I maintain, and if I wasn't doing it I wouldn't be hustling my next deal or something else high paying, I'd just be paying someone else to do what I can do, often better.