The Value of Time

[Mayhem]

Curious, what do you value your time at when doing things yourself?

[Trochu]

Originally Posted by Mayhem

Curious, what do you value your time at when doing things yourself?

I generally compare it to what I would be making at work on an hourly basis. So, changing the brakes on the van for example, takes me about 5 hours. It would cost about $1,100.00 if I took it to a shop. Materials are about $350, so $750/5 = $150/hr. I don't make $150/hr, so I do it myself.

[Beeman]

I've always looked at as what else I would be doing with my time and how much I enjoy/hate the task at hand. I just finished restoring a car over the last couple winters. I haven't exactly done the math but pretty sure I made somewhere around 3 dollars an hour if I'm lucky but that's ok, had fun and learned a few things along the way. Same idea with some of my woodworking etc. I've done almost all vehical and home maintenance and repairs myself for years but if I'm busy with work and need something fixed right now it's time hire it done. If the job really sucks I value my time a lot higher.

I figure it's not really fair to value your time the same as work unless you have to take time off to work for yourself. Usually the time spent doing something for myself comes off of my sitting on my butt not doing much time and not earning wages time.

[huntinstuff]

I dont put a dollar value on it

If I did, i guess a box of homemade 30-06 cartridges costs me about $690

Lol

[Off in the Bushes]

I simply look to see if it is in my wheel house or not, if it is, do I need parts or tools if I do I factor that into the job price. Then I decide if that how I want to send my time.

[buckbrush]

I don't think about it much. I do most of my projects after work or on days off. If I were to take time off of work to say, fix my truck it wouldn't make financial sense.

There is also a lot to be said for the feeling of doing something yourself. I tend to pay people to do things mainly when its something I could do but would rather not.

[jstubbs]

Originally Posted by Trochu

I generally compare it to what I would be making at work on an hourly basis. So, changing the brakes on the van for example, takes me about 5 hours. It would cost about $1,100.00 if I took it to a shop. Materials are about $350, so $750/5 = $150/hr. I don't make $150/hr, so I do it myself.

Somewhat this, but with an added "estimated cusses per minute" premium added on top to the estimate.

A heater core replacement might take me 12 hours and a shop would charge $900 to do it with the part being $180, so about $60/hr. Then I add in the 4 cuss words per minute uttered multiplied by the $1/cuss premium, and the job becomes far out of scope.

[Ken07AOVette]

If I am snowplowing I charge between $65-$85 per hour depending which unit I am running. I was charging $195 on the payloader, but sold it.
On litigation accounts I charge $65 per hour plus mileage plus filing fees. Every form I sign comes with a $250 fee plus process serving fees, hourly, mileage.
3d printing I try to get $4 per hour. Design is more.
When I was doing metal fab and repairs I charged out at minimum $65 per hour, more if the big equipment was used but that ended years ago.
If I am doing vehicle repair in my shop on the lift there is no charge for helping. Thats just frustration relief.

[stuckincity]

Ever since my right wrist got permanent damage 12 or so years ago, I've had no choice but to go to the pros for a lotta stuff I could do myself once.

I found the best bet is to only use those who only do "word-of-mouth-advertizing" from satisfied customers, with no splashy ads online, in the paper, or in the old physical Yellow Pages.

Hope this helps.

[whitetail Junkie]

Originally Posted by Mayhem

Curious, what do you value your time at when doing things yourself?

Time is priceless and there is no value....Work is a nessasay evil to survive in our world in the sense you need the money from it to live...

when I ain’t working for the man I’m trying to spend every second possible with family or doing something I enjoy like hunting/fishing.

[Redfrog]

Originally Posted by whitetail Junkie

Time is priceless and there is no value....Work is a nessasay evil to survive in our world in the sense you need the money from it to live...

when I ain’t working for the man I’m trying to spend every second possible with family or doing something I enjoy like hunting/fishing.

I agree. Time is priceless and life is terminal. It's best spent on the important things.

[Red Bullets]

Valuing your time monetarily is easy. Calculate how much it costs you to live your lifestyle and food for a day. And figure out how much you want to work. If you don't want to work tomorrow work twice as much today. Your time is worth what others are willing to pay. And you shouldn't work more than you have to. The rest of the time is meant for other abilities, skills and passions.

Socrates once said,"He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature." A great example is an african lion. Once he has a full belly he lays down and is content. He won't keep hunting. The other prey animals can walk right by unmolested.

[fordtruckin]

Originally Posted by huntinstuff

I dont put a dollar value on it

If I did, i guess a box of homemade 30-06 cartridges costs me about $690

Lol

I’m right there with you. I don’t things to for my own satisfaction sometimes. It may take me longer but the entertainment factor is well worth it...you should have seen me cutting firewood last year. Felled a 90’ 16” tree across my trailer.

[elkhunter11]

Loading my 28 gauge and 410 target loads saves me over $2000 per year, and that works out to about $50-$60 per hour at the bench. On the other hand, I can't be bothered loading 12 or 20 gauge, because the savings are so much less. Once I have my loads worked up, my centerfire handloads do save me some money, but if I figured in the time spent out to the range and back to develop loads, I would be working for less than the minimum wage. And that is living only ten minutes from the range.

[Mr Flyguy]

Anywhere from $100 to $150 per hour, but I can't afford that so that's why the house is such a mess and I go fishing instead.

[jungleboy]

^^Like^^

[bessiedog]

Very cool that there’s sooo ma y here that have life figured out ( in my opinion)

The only valuable things in life are time and people. The rest is all illustrated background noise that is designed to distort your understanding of this.

Spend wisely.

[Buckhead]

I value my time at right around $100 an hour. Particularly if its a nasty, messy job that I hate doing.
Other times, when I am doing something I enjoy, my value goes down.
It all depends on the situation.

[omega50]

I would be happy to pay someone for everything I need to get done if I could just give up control. Really difficult for me so with the exception of plumbing, I try to do it myself even if it was cheaper to farm out.

Dad always said a man should be able to ####,fight and ride a bike

[^v^Tinda wolf^v^]

I can't put an exact value on my time but I will say I take the time to do any task properly. I've done several projects my self that I didn't know how to do when I started them and through research and YouTube I trained myself.

I restored a sports car from the ground up, full body off and rebuilt the entire thing by myself besides the transmission and machining on the engine block. This car was detailed in every aspect, under side was done for show and I even used aluminum checker plate for bling in spots.The interior was done from top to floor in red leather. I also did all the repair work on my last three brand new quads when I broke them and with success.

I did all the electrical in my basement, once again had no idea what I was doing so I researched it and tought myself. When the inspector did his final walk through he got about half way through and said he didn't need to see anymore as it wasn't often he seen everything so detailed and thural.

In my trade professionally the quality of my work has always spoken for it self to boot. I guess after writing all of this I would say what ever the going rate is for having a qualified and trained person to do it. Possibly above and beyond lol.

[JD848]

Originally Posted by whitetail Junkie

Time is priceless and there is no value....Work is a nessasay evil to survive in our world in the sense you need the money from it to live...

when I ain’t working for the man I’m trying to spend every second possible with family or doing something I enjoy like hunting/fishing.

X2 Time is your most valuable commodity so spend it wisely.We all need to make a living.When I was younger I wanted to own big houses ,cars,trucks boats ,50 rifles and I got it all and way more than was ever needed for one man or small family.

Finally I realize I had become a slave to my own greed,i would take time off from work and spend all my time off worken on junk I really never needed and my insurance was so high for crap I was worried about someone stealing that I didn't need.One day I just started selling and what I didn't have time to sell I gave it away to those who didn't have things for important reasons I knew it would help them out.

I still like things in life like a decent home etc,,but since my greed let go I sleep ten times better,plus I appreciate the free things that were over looked during my earlier years where my greed made me blind and totally forget where I came from.

[Mulehahn]

I think it depends on the job, and how much of a rush I am in. Take an oil change for example. By the time I drive the 10 minutes to the shop, sit in the truck for 20 minutes and drive home can jack the truck up, pull the plug and go have a coffee while it drains, come out, swap filter and refill in the same 40 minutes with better parts and half the cost. Swapping tires (on rims) is basically the same thing but I will gladly pay someone the $100 for the 15 minutes it takes them because I hate doing it.

Then there is side projects. I was recently given 2 old grass trimmers. The are early 80s vintage and haven't been ran for probably a decade. Fuel lines were rotten, varnish through out. Probably should of thrown them out. But I enjoy learning new things (or relearning things as the last time I took an engine apart was in highshool). I stripped them right down, once apart I could see they were actually in pretty good shape. No scarring on pistons, nothing bent or warped. Just had sat for so long. Bought carb kits, cleaned all the parts, new fuel lines and pull stings. Only got to step 2 of the 5 step staring procedure they are supposed to have when one fired up. The other one took 3 pulls. Now I can pretty much guarantee that I could of bought 2 top end Stihls for the hours I put into these and I know I would be ahead quality wise but that wasn't really the point. As others have said, life is short. Learn as much as you can.

[HunterDave]

Interesting question. I do whatever I can myself despite what it saves me.

I suppose that my time is worth the amount of money that I save doing the job myself. If it would cost $1K to get someone to do the job and it only costs me $300 to do it myself, then my time is worth $700. If I could be doing something else that will make me $2K, then I’ll pay someone to do the $1K job while I’m doing the other and my time is worth $1K.