[idiotsecant]

There is definitely an art to making accurate bends, especially in more than one plane! I have never had more respect for the conduit work electricians do every day with EMT than when I tried to learn how to do it myself.

[saalweachter]

DIY is a great way to learn what you're willing pay someone else to do a job faster and better.

[jchw]

Not sure why this is getting downvoted, it's true. I have been going down DIY rabbit holes and learning about a lot of stuff that I wouldn't want to DIY. I always thought that list included "AC/electrical work" but, actually, not really, except maybe the service panel itself. If anything, the work I've done is significantly more likely to be up to (current) code than what was already here...

[AYBABTME]

Once upon a time DIYed a large tube structure (solar arch for a sailboat) and quickly realized why software is so cost effective. I'm so used to creating big structures with a few keystrokes. In the real world doing metal work, I would try to do stuff as quickly as I could but you can't escape the fact that sanding or polishing, etc... it all takes soooo much time! Just cutting the fish-mouths in the tubes to have them fit into each other took an eternity, and drilling holes in stainless steel is no fun.

[saalweachter]

For me, the simplest example was changing the oil on my truck; I could do it, but found it more than reasonable to pay someone else $20 to do it.

For other cases, sometimes I wouldn't mind paying someone else a good market rate -- drywall work comes to mind -- but the mental overhead of contracting and scheduling is currently high enough that I end up just doing the unpleasant work I'd rather pay someone else to.