Quote:
Originally Posted by woj
You are exaggerating the risks a bit, probably because you got burned because of it in the past, that's understandable... but as long as you use some common sense, the risks are actually minimal, it's probably just as likely for you to run some kid over while pulling out of the driveway or getting your foot cut off while mowing your own lawn, as it is for your neighbor to fall off the roof while installing the lights...
if you are so risk averse, just get some decent umbrella insurance policy... it will probably end up being cheaper than overpaying $450 each time for a $50 job...  |
my response is that you are under estimating the risk because you haven't had something bad happen yet. It just takes one time to have something bad happen and you lose everything. Is that worth the risk because you want to save a few bucks. But like I said that part is a personal choice, personal preference. TO each his own.
However, people in this thread are missing the value of not having to take that risk, I don't need to pay for an umbrella policy and hire cheap labor. I pay a little more to hire a company that actually has their own insurance and warranties the work they doing for me. When you hire joe the neighbor to do work, sure you save money but you take on more risks. And he doesn't have to fall off the roof and die, he can accidentally break a window, drop a hammer on to the hood of your car, any "accident" can happen especially when you deal with people who really don't have a lot of experience that type of work because that is not their trade, not what they do every day. And when an accident does happen, Joe isn't going to pay for it 9 out of 10 times... you will.
When you factor in the value of hiring a company, letting them take the risks both to injury to their employees and damage to your property + me understanding that they pay insurance, workmans comp, a lot of overhead, waste, mistakes, fees like to dump stuff, using their own vehicles, gas, etc... understanding all of that I am not shocked when a company quotes me a price a good bit higher than me and a friend can do it, I certainty don't think the company is trying to rip me off because the price is more than I can do it. ALSO, people are not valuing their own time. If you do the work yourself, is there other things you could have been doing to make money ????