Do it Yourself or Hire Someone?

Date Posted: May 28, 2008

I was standing there, staring at the pallet of sod when the thought struck me: we had messed up -- big time. What possessed us to think that laying nearly 500 square feet of sod was anything but a lot of work? Three hours effort yielded only sore backs and a small sodded area. If you have ever tired to dig in the Georgia red clay, you can appreciate the difficulty we had roughing up the soil. My husband and I came to the same conclusion: we needed help. We called a professional who made it over with a team of three men a couple of days later. In less than 3 hours, the sod was down, and much more effectively than we could have done it. Professionals have better equipment...and better skills. The sod had yellowed, but has greened-up with the recent rains. If we had continued, we would probably have lost much of the sod and certainly would have suffered sore backs and strained dispositions.

In making a decision whether to do a job yourself or hire someone, consider the following factors:

• You probably can't do the job as well as a professional. Will you be happy wiht the job that you do?
• Can you do the job safely? If you harm yourself and spend money on medical attention, you will not have saved money.
• Will hiring someone actually save you money? It won't if you make many mistakes and waste materials or if you have to purchase an expensive tool that a professional will already own.
• How valuable is your time? Could you be earning money working at your regular job? Could you be devoting valuable time to your family or community and achieve more?