It’s not as big a loss as it looks, because now I have leftover supplies, which will help me talk myself into doing this all over again with a new project!

Source

  • Justifier@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    5 days ago

    Last time I diy’d it was triple the cost

    I got tools to do other things with after the fact, developed a personal connection with the things I made. The second version didn’t break and was substantially under the original projected costs, but the total was over triple

    However, if you want things made to last instead of things to ship these days, the tools and materials of say a decent dining table can easily be under the cost of the product

    $500 in lumber, $1,500 for a table saw, $700 for a helical thickness reducer, $700 for a helical planer, $300 for a biscuit joiner, and ~$500 in varius clamps, glues, screws, and materials puts the project at the ~$4,000 mark, which is the starting point for many decent good dining tables (without shipping/delivery)

    • wjrii@lemmy.world
      11·
      5 days ago

      You forgot the additional $3000 and five years to do enough projects to gain the skills to make a table your loved ones will allow in the house. 🤣

      • Justifier@lemmy.worldEnglish
        8·
        5 days ago

        Idk when your competition is $2,000 mdf with 10 hinges to fit into a 6"×35" box even your finger painting first try has the potential to be a treasured family piece if it can hold up a turkey and table cloth these days

        • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
          6·
          5 days ago

          The competition is go to a thrift store and buy a good one that someone threw out because it was their Nana’s. $100.

          • Justifier@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            4 days ago

            You know, I had a similar conversation with someone but regarding houses

            My big issue with old furniture is the quantities of people I see bring some nice old piece home only to end up with termites or other pests, evrn after they treated the thing, and then they are forced to spend way more than just the cost of the old piece to remove those pests from their home… thats if they catch it in time anyways. If they get to the structure you’re looking at thousands in pest removal and repairs

            One of my neighbors who worked in pest control at the time would go on about stuff like that being one of the big factors keeping him in the trade

            Everything comes with its own caveat. New stuff isn’t built the same as things used to be, old stuff is very old now, usually hardly servicable without substantial effort and diligence

            There’s a good 20 year gap on the market of quality consumer goods and todays types of products so getting quality stuff is also just getting darned hard as they break down and are disposed of. Soon it won’t just be the products. It will be the tools and skills to make them too

      • Justifier@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        4 days ago

        Especially true as increasingly fewer of us have homes or even rentals with the space needed to house the types of tools to make things even if they are owned

      • obelisk_complex@piefed.caEnglish
        5·
        5 days ago

        This is the real reason I do so much DIY. I don’t save a lot of money, at least on the initial outlay, but I learn.

  • null@lemmy.orgEnglish
    12·
    5 days ago

    There aught to be a word for that mental calculation you do when you weigh how long it’s gonna take to do something plus resources and compare it to your hourly rate at your actual job. Anything over a certain threshold it becomes more efficient to work and throw money at rather than do.