[bityard]

The main reason I diy most of my home and car repairs is that 90% of the contractors and mechanics I have used over the years have been shockingly incompetent. Their communication skills are crap, they cut corners at every opportunity, sometimes straight up lie, and treat every customer like an idiot.

There is huge gap in the market for tradespeople who take their work even semi-seriously.

[ungreased0675]

I also DIY my car repairs, and not because I like cars.

I just hate, hate, cannot stand paying skilled craftsman hourly rates for rushed sloppy work.

[conductr]

Same. But I don’t do much on my cars. My strategy has been to just only buy Japanese cars (Honda and Toyota for me) and keep them for about 10 years or 150k miles. I’ve never needed do so anything besides replace a dead battery, fluids, filters, tires, and other basic maintenance which I let the lube shop and tire shop do. Basically the recommended 30/60/90/etc. I could do cheaper but it’s not worth the hassle for me given they can do it quickly.

I’ve bought new 3 times now with this strategy and while I could buy used and save some money or drive them longer, I view this as the cost of avoiding major maintenance.

Anytime I’ve owned a German or American made vehicle the chance of something failing is too high for me. The entire experience of having a vehicle out of commission is a huge hassle I want to avoid altogether.

Against better judgement, I do also own a Tahoe that I bought used just for doing “work”. Towing and doing dirty stuff, Home Depot runs, etc. It’s basically a tool for the DIY stuff I enjoy doing (house construction/work). It’s caused me the most grief, but still not too bad, belts and radiators and alternators, stuff I’ve diy’d because it’s easy but still stuff I’ve never had issues with on Japanese cars.

[7thpower]

I only use a shop when it’s going to take a LOT of time.

I’ve opened up my hood a few too many times to find a cap or extra bolts tucked in between the side of the hood and the weatherstrip.

Are duplicates from the new part? Did they assemble it and find they had extra fasteners (I know I have)?

Did they puncture my seat while they were in the car and then gaslight me?

I could go raise hell, but it’s difficult to prove these things and the mechanics I trusted have moved on to better careers in HVAC or elsewhere, so I just put on a podcast and do most of the work myself. It’s not so bad.

[AngryData]

Part of the problem is the pay for many tradesmen doesn't go up much for doing better work with more skills and knowledge, the only incentive most of the workers get is to just do it faster. You don't often get a bonus by making beautiful piece of work, you will get a bonus for getting done quicker even if it is the barest minimum quality of work. And many people who would make excellent craftsman are also smart and skilled enough to enter many other fields that pay better and have far less workplace hazards and doesn't involve them having to regularly pump out trash work to stay competitive.