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Comment by mox1 | Hacker News Reader

As an engineer (software) who owns his own SFH, I absolutely love doing repairs to my house.

I preemptively replaced my water system this spring (electric to gas heater, added water softener). Took me a whole week (5-10pm work) and lots of pre-planning, but every time I walk downstairs I can't help but admire all the coppers lines I piped in. I dunno it was kinda like Hello World of the building trades, hearing the heater kick in after all was done was awesome.

Now, I've worked with my hands my whole life and have done tons of smallerish projects around this house, but this was the biggest one I tackled. Saved me 3-5k I'm sure and it really gave me a sense of accomplishment.

To each is own though.

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As an engineer (software) who owns his own SFH and also did a gut rehab. I hate doing repairs on my house. Between not having the correct tooling, the time premium I pay beyond what a reputable tradesman will take and how much I prefer working on software for dealing with home repair, it makes _zero_ sense for me to do this work. Every time I do repairs I think of my run rate vs the professional I could be paying to do the work and get disgusted. The only reason I ever do it is that finding said professional is a gig unto itself.

I like the _control_ I have in owning my place, but I abhor the responsibility of fixing systems.

Same. I just wrote in another comment in this thread that I hate spending hours at Home Depot searching for tools and parts. I find the whole world of home repairs hard to navigate. I watch a video on YouTube on how to repair X, and they talk as if things are standardized, but then I try it at my place and everything looks completely different and I don’t even know what those things are called.

Plumbing, woodwork,and even concrete work can be very enjoyable and rewarding experiences when done for your own purposes and very occasionally.

Yeah, we’re at opposite ends of the spectrum here :)

I hate all that stuff. I hate spending hours at Home Depot trying to find the right parts and tools to do things.

I just hate dealing with hardware in general.

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