Getting a man in to make wife happy

[Sysman]

For me it's about knowing your own limitations. If it involves gas, electricity or water I'll get a pro in, most other minor things are fair game I reckon.

Most decorating or putting 'something' up I'll have a crack at - Probably one of the reasons why we have no wallpaper anywhere in the house.

I quite enjoy painting. I've never done any wallpapering.

When my first house was up for sale neither the estate agent nor most of the viewers could understand why I had no wallpaper.

"It gives a better background to the pictures I have up" was an answer they didn't understand. Phillistines, the lot of them!

My next house was full of woodchip walpaper which suited its cottage style, but I would never have put the stuff up myself.

[hyperD]

What is this thing as well when someone is working from home or home office, that the other half think you're relaxing on the sofa downing beers and so every morning give you a job list the size of a telephone directory?

And don't say I should've done the same to her when she went to work, I did, and look where it left me!

[Sysman]

What is this thing as well when someone is working from home or home office, that the other half think you're relaxing on the sofa downing beers and so every morning give you a job list the size of a telephone directory?

I got the same from the entire family my first Christmas hols after I started Uni, when I was supposed to be studying for an exam as soon as we got back in January. I only just scraped a pass, because the rest of the family didn't give me time to do any swotting.

I went for paid holiday jobs after that.

[psychocandy]

I'm WFH today and the Mrs CS happens to be at home due to being a school teacher on her Easter break.
She wanted some odd jobs to be done, and last time I had a go at DIY I spent hours and days trying to do stuff that a professional would do in 1/10th of the time. That was bench time that I could have spent on a course improving my quals and skills.

This time we've got a man in to do some odd jobs - fitting curtain rail, putting a mirror up on the wall, fix leaky tap.... nothing big.
Its far cheaper for him to do it than me, but it really does make me feel like an empty shell of a man sometimes. Event worse when he gets all of the praise, and I feel utterly useless.
Thing is I just CBA to waste another saturday dropping things on my feet and hammering my thumbs into the wall.

Am I alone here?

Nah. My Mrs is the same - thinks every single DIY task is easy.

Like you said, why spend twice as long doing something that you can pay a pro to do properly.

[Halo Jones]

it really does make me feel like an empty shell of a man sometimes. Event worse when he gets all of the praise, and I feel utterly useless.

By getting a man in to do those tasks will make the Mrs happy with you, and open to the suggestion of you “proving your manliness”

[psychocandy]

WZS

It makes sense to outsource these things. Whereas I can do basic DIY, it's a faff, the missus moans at me & it's a waste of a day, so I prefer to hire someone on £15 per an hour to do it for me when I go to work.

Same with matrimonial duties, it's a faff, the missus moans at me, it's a waste of an evening, so I prefer to hire someone with a 12'' dick to do it for me & I can go to the pub.

Sorted.

Tell the Mrs I'll be around tonight then. Mention 'CUK' and I'll give you 10% off my normal rate!

[Barley]

I can really identify with the sentiment on this thread. A few months ago I put up a shelf but it took me two hours including trips to B&Q to buy various bits.

It was while in B&Q having had to ask one of staff (a senior gentlement), what drill bits I needed, what size screws, raw plugs etc that having been led around the store to each item I then felt less of a man.

I still think I should be able to do half the jobs I cant but most times theyre bodged as I dont know what im doing, dont have the right tools etc etc, and yes it takes me 5x as long.

Ive consolled myself that whilst I cant do a lot of things (or just hate doing DIY) that many of these people who can do it wouldnt be able to do my job.

I guess the upside is that I can afford to pay for their expertise. If I did it myself and costed it by my day rate it would be 10x what anyone would charge me.

[norrahe]

I got a plumber in last weekend. £250. Shower still broken, and now bath u-bend is leaking too.
He's coming back on Tuesday for another £255.

Over £500 to get the shower working. Have a horrible feeling I'm being ripped off...

So you got him in and he hasn't fixed what he was supposed to? Whay are you paying him again to sort out the job he didn't do properly in the first place???

[Support Monkey]

Nope!

First house I bought, foolishly spent years doing it up myself and living in a building site for 3 years.

Second house, got someone in for 6 weeks to sort it out before we moved in.

It's a lot less hassle when you've got someone who knows what they are doing.

Same here, but it was 10 years livin on a building site for me and in hindsight my time would have been better spent on my career.

Having said that i am now a DIY god, no job to big and the satifaction in a job I have done myself makes it all worthwhile but as someone else said its about knowing your limitations and i opten wonder why people spend time and effort doing jobs that are way beyond their capability when they could have done it in half the time by getting a man in.

Also on the plus side i love the phone calls from companies selling insurance to cover any maintenance around the house, when they point out my mains water supply should be insured has it might need fixing at some point i politely point out that i was the bloke that layed the pipe so i can fix it myself.

[Zoiderman]

It's about having an interest in it too. I tinker with electrics, and mechanical things, and would never get a man in for those things, as I know I could do them as good myself. DIY though, well, said before here, but 10 times as long to finish it, and changed 30 times since you did it, to make it a better job.

I completely refurbed a room on the birth of my second kid. It took weeks as I just wasn't happy with the finish, and ended up with about 5 coats of paint, the cutting in inch perfect took about a week, the carlos fandango light system was the least of my worries. It looked great, then my wife said she wanted to move. Not touched a DIY project since. Curently building a solar dryer, which is more up my street.