How Much Is Your Time Worth?

wuphysics87@lemmy.ml to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 68 points –

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?

41

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 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.

It varies.

In most cases it's more a question of "What is the risk if I do this myself?" and "If I completely fuck this up, is it going to cost more to fix than just calling someone who knows what they're doing before that happens?"

If the answer to the above doesn't involve a fire in my walls or serious water damage like with electical or plumbing, and the cost to fix mistakes is low, then sure, I'll try it myself first.

Interesting, my dad is often complaining about the opposite, what is the risk if he let's it do someone else? It's because he has reasons to make things in a particular way which some professionals dismiss and do differently. And then he finds out way too late and then can't really do what he planned or it involves a lot of extra work to work around the limitation.

I get this too. However, you'll usually be able to tell the professionals your end goal during the quoting process and if your requirements are reasonable, they'll work with you.

If they won't do that, then you get to ask yourself the next question:

  • Do they have a good reason to refuse? (safety [either theirs or yours], regulations, etc)

If not, then you can just refuse the quote and work with someone else.

More often than not, the professionals know what they're doing and will be able to work around your requirements, and if they can't, they'll have competitors that can.

Generally speaking I do things myself because it's cheaper, in that it lets me allocate cash in higher quality versions of things than I would otherwise be able to afford. I grew up pretty poor and that was how my family did things. Car breaks, that's why you buy a Chilton's. Appliance isn't working? You can always order the part for a tenth of what it costs to have the appliance guy tell you what's wrong. AC quit working? Those capacitors are super easy to replace and only cost $7.

Now I could pay people to do more things for me, but it's only under certain circumstances.

Sometimes it just boils down to something my Dad told me underneath a car (or a house maybe) like 30 years ago: "Nobody is gonna care about your shit more than you do."

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.

I always think in terms of time, and I have a spreadsheet to track my "actual hourly" i get from work and side hustles so I can know which are working best for me. When evaluating items to buy, I think about how much time it would take me to buy the item instead of the amount in dollar or whatever since the dollar's value changes with time. This also helps me because I generally try to not think in USD to begin with since I mostly use Bitcoin. At first, I tried thinking in BTC but it's volatile enough that this is not much any better than thinking in USD. Tying things to hours makes more sense. If you know your "average hourly" it's easy to determine whether or not to fix something yourself or hire somebody else to do it.

$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. đź‘Ť

A lot more than it used to be. But I’m also getting lazier. I used to spend all weekend learning some new tech on my computer and now I can’t be bothered.

1 more...

The answer is it depends on a lot of things, my answer comes from my current financial situation which is stable but not anything crazy.

If I have been working a lot and have money to use, I value my free time at ~2-3x my equivalent hourly wage. If the task is something I enjoy and I have time, I'd rather do it myself than pay someone else. If it is something messy, something I don't want to do, or something I am bad at or might screw up, that is a problem that money can solve.

It shouldn't be controversial to say this but humans deserve free time, we should have leisure and hobbies. You should not have to constantly fight/work to survive. We as a species are past that point and it is sad that society has not figured that out. Instead society chooses to keep the status quo where some people have to work 60-80hrs a week to exist.

No, I don't have the answer on how to change that.

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.

If it’s something I don’t really want to do then it’s 1.5x my current salary assuming 8 hours of work per day.

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.

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.

Is it an easy job? 50€/hr

Is it an easy job, but during a busy time? 100€/hr

the same above, but difficult 85/150 the same above, but a consistent gig 35/50 the same above, but with dietary restrictions and a bridzilla? 200/500

can you afford it? 1,000€/hr

Do I like you? free/minimal upcharge.

Will it get done if it costs too much to get someone to do it? Do I think I can do it?

If I added up all of the home, auto and technical maintenance I have done in the last month as farmed out to a professional I would be broke ALL THE TIME or the things would not have gotten done.

SO many things can be looked up and even found as full instructional videos now.

I generally look at it as if there is special knowledge, skills or tools needed also if I could make things worse.. If not I will try and do it myself.

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.

My rule of thumb is $50/hr, but it varies depending on what it is. I charge more for stuff that is exceptionally dangerous.

$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 10mĂ·2kĂ·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.

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.

$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.

Confucius once said "choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."

If you love what you do, the rest will follow.

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.