I spend a lot of time fixing things, for myself and others. (Computers, electrical, plumbing, etc). While I learn a lot, I wonder sometimes if it would be better to pay a professional and do something else for which I am more ‘valuable’. Do you do the same, and do you find it worthwhile?
$45/hr
More than I can afford, unfortunately
$my_age/hr
If you go by my job then it works out to about $15 an hour. That’s my wage x hours worked per day \ 24. But that’s not very useful since there are stituations where i choose to spend my time instead of hire a professional “less”.
But personally I value my time differently based on the activity. If I like the activity my time is worth very little but if I hate the activity it can be expensive. I’d rather spend 3 days figuring out how to do something myself than hire a professional because I find the process of learning and DIY to be very fun and fulfilling. But at the same time I’d rather pay to have my house cleaned even though it would be easy and cheaper for me to clean it myself.
If the request is helping a friend in need then my time is free no matter how much I hate the activity.
Sometimes having the problem removed is worth a lot.
Sometimes the time waiting for the professional is not worth it.
If it can be done for less than $200, I pay and move on.
I haved fixed several appliances which stayed working for years after.
I enjoy fixing things, even other people’s shit, so I categorize that time as entertainment instead of work. It’s time I’d otherwise be using to doomscroll on Lemmy.
Entertainment value nails it
It depends. I personally like solving tech problems, so I don’t mind doing that myself. But for things I don’t enjoy like cooking, I am willing to pay quite a bit to outsource that work to someone else. Even with the modern inflated restaurant prices I still eat out a few nights a week.
$150 for weekends. We pay for house cleaning and lawn mowing so that we can have weekends free, and it’s absolutely worth it to me. We don’t actually get these done every week but together that is what we’d pay to be able to not spend the weekend cleaning and mowing.
My work? If I was providing what I do professionally to someone, I would say $50 an hour, for actual productive hours. But I’ve done odds and ends work for less, and very occasionally for more.
I have not been paid for my time in a long time. My value is not derived in hours or seconds, but what I can deliver in satisfaction for a job well done. Sometimes I need more time to do a good job and sometimes I need very little time to do a good job. The amount of time is irrelevant to the excellence of the work. That’s not to say that time is not a factor, but it’s a factor I use for myself, not for an external entity.
Ol pap was like this also, mainly with electrical or automotive issues. He always said instead of him possibly doing a bad job and wasting his whole Saturday, he’d rather just pay a pro to do it right and in a timely manner, and go do some work on the weekend.
I said this to my uncle once “me and my dad bought stuff at auction then probably spent more fixing it up than it was worth”. He said “but it helped you didn’t it?”, yeah it definitely did. Fixing stuff definitely helps the soul, if it helps you, do it and don’t worry about the cost.
$500/hour.
I’m super involved in the back end of a niche industry, and own a small company. I used to get asked to consulting calls all the time by companies like Alpha Sights and GHG Consulting, so I made my hourly rate much higher than their suggested rate ($200) so I would get fewer requests. Based on the revenue of my company, I shouldn’t bother pulling away from work less than that rate. 👍
What’s the niche industry?
Banking and payroll money movement technology
As someone who works in finances, I appreciate your work.
Unless you’re actually using the time that it frees up to make more money, that’s not a useful exercise. If you’re just thinking that you could make more money, but you didn’t actually do it, then you’re just paying to have time to - whatever it is that you do with that time. Which could still be valid, but it’s a different judgment proposition.
Plus, being able to do things yourself means they can get done on your schedule, assuming you actually do them. You’re beholden to no one’s schedule and energy but your own.
I work two jobs and an overall very busy life. I’ve started to outsource more. If I outsource, I can also spend that time working to make even more money so I guess the answer is “it depends” but I used to spend my time learning how to fix my vehicle and stuff. If it’s something that will take me a few hours and I’ll save a few hundred bucks ill do it myself. If it’s a big job its not worth my time.
$100 per hour.
The company I work for makes roughly 10m in revenue.
There are 2000 work hours in a year.
There are 50ish total employees.
So 10m÷2k÷50=100.
I dont know if everyone at the company contributes equally to revenue. For example, if you are an engineer or in design work or QA, I assume you contribute much more than middle management or supervisors.
I don’t think it would be much of a company without the admin spending time hiring, or invoices being sent, or various other non billable things being done.
The installation technicians would have a hell of a time getting work done without the project managers doing all the preplanning.
There’s no middle management, I’m supervising one colleague and basically make sure he has an appropriate workload that he can complete efficiently and competently.
It’s not that simple, at all. Who pays the office rent? The insurance premiums? The corporate taxes? Buying equipment? Paying for time off? Etc.
I didn’t say there aren’t costs. I need a car and food and have expenses as well.
The question was what is my time valued at.
