If you’re the kind of person who is independently minded and fearless and is always looking for the best value to the point of being almost cheap, I’m about to give you some very good advice. It doesn’t really matter what the specific project is, the advice stays the same, as does the procedure. But for the purposes of this example, let’s say your roof needs to be reshingled and you’ve had three quotes, none of which you find particularly exciting, so now you’ve decided to do the job yourself. You’ll just go at your own pace and save a lot of money.
Okay, before you whip your shirt off and strap on your tool belt, there are a few steps you need to take. First of all, determine what tools are necessary to reshingle a roof. You’ll need a crowbar to pry off the old shingles. A crowbar is a simple tool, so there shouldn’t be any problems there. However, you’ll need a hammer to nail the new shingles down. This is a little more complicated because, over time, the head on a hammer can get quite loose. So when the head flies off your hammer, you’ll have to come all the way down to retrieve it from where it’s lying on the ground beside your unconscious neighbour. And, any savings on the roofing job will be more than absorbed by the legal costs once he comes to. So you need a good hammer. Similarly, you won’t want to compromise as far as your ladder’s concerned. If you’ve had that same wooden ladder for over twenty years, chances are it’s lost even more integrity than you have. You need a good ladder.
Now let’s get a little more personal. Think of the vertigo you get when you climb up on a chair to take your underwear off the ceiling fan. Well, it’s a pretty good bet that the roof of your house is significantly higher than any of your ceiling fans. So maybe you should just try climbing the ladder empty-handed and see how far you get before you freeze up and your wife has to call the fire department to bring you back down. Now let’s add the fitness component. Put a bundle of shingles on your shoulder and see if you can even stand up, much less climb a ladder. Oh sure, you could take one shingle at a time, but that’s a lot of trips. And judging from your profile, you’d still be doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Now we get to the core of the issue. You think you’re just as good, if not better, at reshingling your roof as anybody who does it for a living? Let’s find out. Go down to your local roofing company and ask the guy if there’s anybody in there doing roof work who looks like you. He’ll say no. Now drop into the emergency room of your local hospital and ask the receptionist the same question, and you’ll get an entirely different response.