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I have been a single homeowner for about 40 years (several different homes). Now retired so being home to "supervise" home repairs is much easier, but I managed owning a home for a long time.
Most contractors will meet with you before or after work to look over the job. Then they will email you an estimate. Once you decide to do the job, you will have to arrange to take off work to be there if it's an inside job. But as someone mentioned above, buy a house that is in good shape... at least livable without major work.
You can learn to do some things yourself. Home depot and Lowes usually run classes on how to do various kinds of repairs.
Added. Many contractors do work on weekends, even on holidays. But be sure to ask ahead of time if they charge extra.
This isn't a dilemma at all. Use good planning, find trustworthy contractors, and use your judgement as to how much "supervision" is needed. It sounds like you have trouble trusting people. Do you really think your painter is going to steal your blender?
I have never owned a home, but it seems to me like if a homeowner has a full time job, especially an unmarried homeowner, he or she either has to
(A) take off vacation time just to be home when contractors make repairs, upgrades, fixes, do maintenance, etc. (assuming the contractors don't work on weekends)
(B) Bite the bullet and let the contractors work unsupervised, essentially trusting total strangers with your home and its contents, or
(C) attempt to DIY virtually everything, which requires a lot of background knowledge and a lot of time invested. I would think this might risk making it tough, after both full time employment and work on the house, to have any free time left for social life, volunteering, self-improvement, or dating .
What am I missing here, and how do most home owners with full time jobs (or couples with two full time jobs) manage? I want to be able to own a home some day and just would like to know how people pull it off.
And how is that any different than renting ? If the AC breaks/plumbing leaks don't you want to be home when the contractors come ?
When renting you have little control of what goes on with where you are living and the option to own or rent is yours to determine. For many, home ownership is an advantage in many ways while for others with a different mind and skill set, renting might be best.
I have never owned a home, but it seems to me like if a homeowner has a full time job, especially an unmarried homeowner, he or she either has to
(A) take off vacation time just to be home when contractors make repairs, upgrades, fixes, do maintenance, etc. (assuming the contractors don't work on weekends)
(B) Bite the bullet and let the contractors work unsupervised, essentially trusting total strangers with your home and its contents, or
(C) attempt to DIY virtually everything, which requires a lot of background knowledge and a lot of time invested. I would think this might risk making it tough, after both full time employment and work on the house, to have any free time left for social life, volunteering, self-improvement, or dating .
What am I missing here, and how do most home owners with full time jobs (or couples with two full time jobs) manage? I want to be able to own a home some day and just would like to know how people pull it off.
They pull it off by doing one of, or a combination of, all those choices, just like they have to do for all the other issues of life that come up, like car repairs or kids or pet appointments.
For small jobs, or first time projects with a particular contractor, we'll make sure we can be here. For our major remodel.... we ended up giving him a key and leaving much of the time. It depends.
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