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People can’t imagine what they haven’t done… And when I was working in employment readiness counseling for people who were on welfare they did not understand how someone could work full-time and still get their laundry done and their dishes cleaned and their shopping done. When you’re unemployed and have nothing but time sometimes just one of these projects can take all day and all of your energy. I would try to explain to them that they will still find time to do these things and they will become more efficient at it the more they do it. :-)
Some would wash out because one or two things going wrong in a week was enough to derail them. Others figured it out and came back later and we’d remember when.... :-)
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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The purpose of PTO/Vacation is to allow people to go on trips, have some recreation, just stay home and relax, or stay home to wait for service providers. Married or not, homeowner or not, it's the same for everyone. I have two employees who rent apartments here in Seattle that have taken off several days while repairs were being made to their apartments. No one likes to have strangers working in their home while they are away, renters have "stuff" too.
I rarely use PTO for things like house work. That would include lawn/landscape, interior, cleaning, fixing, etc. I will take time during work to shop online or research when I have the opportunity on how some things are done. I also have the ability to work from home many days so that lends a lot of flexibility if you need to run an errand on your lunch hour or jump offline a little early to get something done.
Having a flexible workplace is also key, we have two kids as well and my wife def. does not get the same advantages in her line of work (healthcare). Sometimes I do things on weekends and it's not just my home but also our vehicles, family homes, their cars, etc. I try not to stretch thin and enjoy doing a lot of the work myself. Especially with the cost of labor and material upcharges you see on home work it can get quite overbearing to swallow that cost knowing you can do all or most of the work yourself.
I pride myself on being pretty DIY, and do believe that is something people have a knack for more than others. Of course you can read forums, watch YT videos which my fil swears is the only reason I know how to do so much. But truth be told my father, grandfather, and uncles were all very "handy" people who I watched and learned from over the years. When it came time to be a homeowner I got excited to do these things, heck when I got my first car I asked for a socket set for Christmas and immediately removed the front bumper just to see if I could.
So I've expanded on the knowledge I have to include mechanical, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, painting, lawncare, etc. Plus you get a HUGE boost of satisfaction when you do something for your home by yourself. But it takes all kinds, some people are just happy to pay to get the work done, others want it done themselves, while some just don't have the time and others do. If anything in my still young age I've learned when things are over my head and make sure to properly research before attempting so I do not get myself into big jams.
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.
When we had our kitchen completely gutted, extended and rebuilt, I stayed home the first day to meet the crew and find out the general schedule for the next couple of weeks. We then handed over the keys and let them come and go. I would periodically take a morning or leave work early to come in and provide guidance on how the work was going, but for the most part I left them to their devices for 2-3 months during the construction project.
We had so many crews coming and going during that time, AND the back of our house was COMPLETELY OPEN when they blew out the wall to extended it by 12 feet. And yet nothing was broken and nothing was stolen. The general contractor had a great crew and great subs.
At some point you just have to trust that if a contractor wants to stay in business, he/she is not going to do anything to jeopardize that - and that includes having an honest crew that is paid well for the service they provide. This is why recommendations, BBB and reviews can be helpful in picking out your contractor(s).
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.
Not gonna lie, I’ve burned a lot of leave hours for home maintenance. But Ive always managed. You do what you have to do. *shrug*
My biggest time eater was lawn maintenance. For many years I did my own weed/feed applications, aeration and seeding. That meant a lot of days where I had to use leave due to weather. I still cut my own grass, but 7 or 8 years ago I hired a lawn company for the other stuff. That was such a huge relief. One of the best decisions I’ve made. After I retire, I’ll be hiring a cleaning lady too.
People can’t imagine what they haven’t done… And when I was working in employment readiness counseling for people who were on welfare they did not understand how someone could work full-time and still get their laundry done and their dishes cleaned and their shopping done. When you’re unemployed and have nothing but time sometimes just one of these projects can take all day and all of your energy. I would try to explain to them that they will still find time to do these things and they will become more efficient at it the more they do it. :-)
Some would wash out because one or two things going wrong in a week was enough to derail them. Others figured it out and came back later and we’d remember when.... :-)
These days I think they call it Adulting. :-)
Homeownership is one of those steps!
Great post, and true in so many ways.
It's funny how once you have to do something you "miraculously" find the capacity to do so.
For me, I'm lucky in that I can work from home. So I can be home when I need to have someone in. I have landscaping and plowing services for outside. They just come when needed, whether or not I'm home.
Other contractors I haven't had a problem with. The contractor I engaged to build my deck and do various jobs inside and outside my house when I first moved here, I trusted as he had been working with me for a while. So I gave him a key for the times I was not going to be home. It worked out fine.
Other contractors usually weren't all-day affairs, and most also have early morning and evening hours too, so it is workable without taking a ton of vacation time, if you can't WFH.
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