Let the professionals play
And why I prefer to hire artisans than do their work myself
(Read this post in French here)
My house is officially sold now, so it's time to make the exit preparations. Part of the sale process here in South Africa, and elsewhere too I'm sure, is to obtain Certificates of Compliance for the electrical and gas installations. This morning while watching the electrician do his thing with the big mains cables I was reminded of the value of professional work, versus the pitfalls of DIY.
For one thing, I discovered that my house's electrical system was not compliant, as it still had a mains fuse breaker dating from the 1940s instead of a more modern mains breaker switch. Which is infuriating considering I bought my house four years ago, and it was handed over with an electrical COC as per regulations ! Which means the previous owners paid some dodgy dude to write up a certificate without doing the actual work. Maybe even the owners before them, too. Well I don't want to be remembered one day as the dishonest previous owner who hired a dodgy dude, so I'm having the work done properly this time.
I'm not a big fan of DIY. I like things to be done properly, by someone who knows what they're doing and has had lots of practice getting it right. DIY to save money is a bad idea in my opinion. Unless of course you actually know what you're doing and you do it because you enjoy it. It's a personal choice, everyone is free to do what they please, this is just the way I see things in my universe. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t shy away from doing a few things around the house once in a while, but I don’t enjoy it that much. So don't get offended if you love DIY, OK!!
Take voice-overs for example. You think because you can repeat a radio ad or read a bedtime story out loud to your children, it can't be very difficult to say a bunch of words into a microphone, so why hire a professional ? Or laying a new floor in your house - just follow the instructions on the box and watch a few YouTube videos. Sure you can do that. But would you hire someone to do that for you if they didn't have experience, references, certificates ? Why would you accept lesser quality of work if it's done by you and not if it's done by someone else ? Just because you're saving money ?
It always comes down to money. People choose the cheaper option to save money, and so often this backfires and they have to spend more money to fix it down the line… The way I see it, money is a tool for trade, not a precious possession. If I could trade my services for those of an electrician, I would - but my electrician doesn't need a voice-over right now, and even if he needed a telephone message it wouldn't be enough to cover the amount of work he's got to do today to fix what the previous owners wouldn't. So I'm happy to trade my other client's voice-overs (that is, money) for this work.
I don't like mowing the lawn every week, but there's this guy who doesn't mind doing it and he could use some bucks to buy his lunch. So I'm happy paying him to mow my lawn, it frees up my time to spend a couple of weekend hours on me, and it helps him to make a living.
I could get all the equipment I need to paint my walls myself, it's not very complicated, but there's an artisan out there who has in depth knowledge of which paints to use and how to get a straight line done right - I'd rather help him feed his family and look back at some very tidy work that doesn't need to be redone next year.
You're going to say, well at least you can afford it, don't you realise how privileged you are ? It goes without saying that if you don't have the means to pay for it, you're better off doing it yourself.
Money comes in and money comes out. Good work goes out and good work comes in. Checks and balances, swings and roundabouts. If you hold on to money you close yourself up to opportunity. If you focus on money all the time you miss out on living life. Focus on great work instead, like breathing, in and out.
Meet some interesting people while you're at it, instead of keeping everything for yourself. I'm not very good at charity, I don't help out at a soup kitchen or make monthly donations to a children's hospital. But I like to hire people who are good at what they do, put their skills to work, give them some pride in achieving something that will be remembered, and share their contact details with my friends.
It all makes me wonder, would everyone's standard of living not improve if there was a better general acceptance of letting money flow more from person to person, instead of holding on to it as tightly as possible ? Or am I being naïve about the way the world economy works ?
Obviously you shouldn't do the work of an electrician without the proper certification, so it's not like I could have done this task myself even if I wanted to, but at least I'm not cutting corners and buying a bogus certificate. I like to know I left things in good order as much as I could and no-one is going to be cursing me behind my back when I'm standing on the edge some magnificent mountain somewhere or dangling from the end of a bungee rope !!
My electrician is doing a great job by the way, I wish I'd had the benefit of these improvements during my four years here, but it is satisfying to know that I'm providing this for the next residents.
One step closer to taking to the roads and becoming a nomad voice-over ! If you’re curious to read how I’m getting along with this new adventure - giving up almost everything I own at 45 to live and work in a camper van on the roads of Europe - go ahead and sign up below, you’ll receive my writings straight into your inbox every time :)
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"The way I see it, money is a tool for trade, not a precious possession". I really appreciate this viewpoint. I think it's important to save but there's also a point where I think hoarding too much money blocks the energetic flow that allows money to come in and go out. I've been trying to be very intentional about giving money more freely lately and I think giving it to support others to feel pride in themselves and their work is one of the most meaningful ways to distribute it. Great post!