Summary: Have you ever tried to save money and ended up spending way more as a result? No one does it better than these “pros.”
Have you ever thought you could save yourself a bit of money by taking the cheaper shortcut on a project or by trying to do it yourself? Unless you know what you are doing or are really lucky, your cost-saving strategy is more than likely to end up costing you even more. Here are a few examples set by some DIY fail professionals.
1) The haircut
Have you ever tried cutting your hair by yourself? Hair is one of those things that you really do need to let the pros handle. There’s a lot that can go wrong, especially since it’s hard to see around your whole head. You can pretty quickly end up with an accidental Bowie mullet, bangs that are irreparably too short, and layers that are so uneven it looks like you had your haircut while on a roller coaster. In the long run, you are most likely going to have to go to the hair dresser to get your hair fixed anyway, so you definitely haven’t saved any money—and have probably cost yourself a whole lot of dignity.
2) Extreme power conservation
Yes, electricity bills can get expensive. There are practical ways to combat this expense—like with energy saving appliances, LED lightbulbs, and by turning things off when you aren’t using them. However, there are people who have taken this just a little too far. For instance, someone realized that you can save on electricity by getting your appliances to multitask. Sound reasonable enough, until you start cooking your lasagna in the dishwasher. This method has been confirmed as possible by the experts—but it’s also a pretty good way to land yourself some hospital bills and medical expenses after you give yourself food poisoning… not to mention the fact that you’re probably going to be buying yourself another meal after the first bite.
3) The DIY renovator
Home repair and renovation is so expensive—especially when you have to bring in the experts to facilitate the renos or repairs. Just think how much money you could save by simply skipping the hiring part and DIYing your way through. It’s true, your initial expense might be less—but there’s a reason you need to hire professionals who have experience in their trade. Trying to DIY things like roofing, plumbing, and wiring can go badly quickly and the extra damage that will result from those mistakes is going to cost you a lot more than that repair bill would have. Besides, you’ll still have to pay that repair bill anyways, as did these poor souls who had no idea what they were getting themselves into.
4) The hole-digger
You need to drill a well, but the whole process is just so expensive. There must be a way to save a few dollars along the way, right? The first thing people will try to cut is the water surveying portion of the job. While this seems like a harmless way to save money, it’s important to remember that you aren’t going to hit water everywhere you drill. A water surveyor will save you the embarrassment of turning your backyard into a golf course—or of mistakenly hitting a sewage line or septic bed. The expense of that mistake is definitely going to outweigh those initial cost savings.
Also, remember, water surveyors get paid by the foot whether or not they hit water. Even if they do hit water, without a prior estimate of the depth and yield of the groundwater source, a well that runs dry quickly or runs into trouble at the first sign of drought will have you spending thousands more to ship in water, or to do the whole water drilling process again.
There is a way around this expensive mishap. Get a water survey done before you drill that well.
Contact American Water Surveyors to ensure you aren’t spending more than you bargained on by cutting costs on one of the most important expenses – access to clean, reliable drinking water.
