At what are you NOT GRM?

My daily driver. I've been GRM on those in the past and it would drive me up a wall. Plus with as much as I drive to go to the different tracks at early morning hours, I get a nice ride that is comfy and don't mess with it. Now my second car.....Different story.

10-years ago my attitude was "Why the berkeley would I pay someone to do something when I can do it myself!?!!?" I'm glad I didn't need a root-canal or surgery during that period...

Today my attitude has shifted to "Why the berkeley would I do that when I can pay someone else..." I just don't have the desire to waste my time & frustration on things that I can hire someone else to do, and let them assume the responsibilities for its correct and timely completion.

Automatic transmissions and Air conditioning stuff! I was Grassroots long before I really knew what it was too!

In 2000 I kinda adopted a mantra of "Cheaper, Faster, Better" and applied it to life. Latest good example was when I got electricity to the shop. I initially paid an electrician to help plan stuff, wire for 110 and 220...everything from the weatherhead on.

Contracted for just the hookup to the shop, meter inside to the fuse box that was good with the codes and electric company so he could work with at least one plug in the shop rather than 150 feet of extension cord.

Well, $450 later and the electric company left a list of why they could not hook up. Everything had to come back out and be reinstalled. Electrician bailed on making it right and tried to make off with wire, conduit and outlets that I had paid for. Took a class, bought a book and wired it myself. Did a cost analysis based on his estimate and my labor it was like I had a job that paid ME $31.00 per hour! Plus I learned a lot, made adjustments to the plan and know each and every part is done right!

This week I am adding another 220 circuit for the air compressor outside on the concrete pad (which I did myself) and adding 5 more interior lights!

Less costly for a better result...I do it well...except AC systems and automatic transmissions. Those are still magic!

Bruce

Roofs, i lugged shingles as a teenager and was scared of hights. Since my ankle was operated on theres no chance i get on anything higher then a chair. Household electrical would technically be the same but my father in law did it for free.(he is an electrician). Home ownership has taught me plumbing and woodwork, i enjoy neither but at the prices qouted i was willing too learn.

The only thing I've every built well that was made of wood was a fire.

Roofs. I was going to do ours this summer and realized I had no business up there. I was standing on the portion that was 12-12 pitch looking at the even steeper section, and thought "I am risking my life to save a couple thousand dollars." I also paid to have a couple trees cut down that were close to power lines. Kind of a cost benefit analysis.

I won't clean and adjust my own furnace.

I pay someone to come clean my house once a month.

Best use of money ever.

I don't have a garage that I can store many tools in or do much work in since it's a shared garage. I have a friend with a lift but he lives close to an hour away and hates working on BMW's. So I pay people to do most of my car's work.

Contrary to others I actually like HVAC work. They're pretty simple mechanically. The electrical components are all modular and can be isolated pretty easily to diagnose them, and I don't need a garage space to do it.

I once did some concrete. Never again. Also roofing. Fortunately my current house has a relatively new roof, no concrete needed.

I'll second oil changes and working on stuff i don't feel like fixing. I've changed oil on my van a bunch over the years, I like the waiting room now. Coffee, old hot rod magazines, etc... The guy who owns the shop who does it is usually in the room, too. He's a pretty cool guy to talk to, fairly plugged into the neighborhood, and his prices are reasonable. I have no qualms giving him money to change the oil or do stuff i don't feel like doing.

It seems like there's a lot of us who have what's called the "diy mentality" basically that there's nothing we can pay someone to do that we can't learn how to do ourselves (save for neurosurgery, making tires, ect) personally the only thing I pay someone to work on my car is an alignment because I really don't want to bust out the stings and ruler. I kinda prefer it that way, I know what went into it, what could go wrong ect.

I really don't like sheetrock, but I do it when I really have to. If I was building a house, I'd pay.

I don't put tires on wheels. That's really hard without a machine.

I am scared to try and install a windshield. Seems too easy to get it wrong.

I had to think long and hard to figure out my answer to this question. I think it depends on how you define "GRM". It's not just doing it cheap because you're cheap, IMHO. I think it's a bang-for-the-buck thang. Look at the challenge entrants. People could say "you spent THOUSANDS on THAT!?" But in reality, for about $2,000 the have a car that will whoop most anything at 10-20 times that price.
I'm a home theater nut. If I had to guess (it's hard because there is a lot of wheeling and dealing at work over the years) I have less than a challenge car into my setup. But, if I wanted to replicate that from your average Hi-Fi shop, it'd take 10 or more times that to get the same quality.
I do my own home repairs, car repairs, wired and plumbed my basement etc. But I did figure out where I'm maybe not 100% GRM. Food. We do NOT buy cheap, processed, crappy food. Our eggs and milk come straight from the farmer. That's more expensive. But our beef comes straight from the farmer as well. How does paying $4.00-$4.50 per pound for Prime Rib sound?
On that note, when I buy parts for my car, I don't shop around for the cheapest part, I shop around for the best brand. That may or may not be GRM.

I don't necessarily enjoy changing my oil, and many times I see places running specials that would make them cheaper than me doing it myself, but if I didn't change my own oil I would never get under there and inspect the thing. That part is pretty important for me.

Glued-in glass, paint/bodywork on newer, nicer cars. Mounting tires. Roofing, larger concrete work, very large landscaping involving grading. I stay in nice hotels and usually rent something that's not a total turd to drive.

Mrs. Motomoron's 2012 A3 (bought at 32k miles w/ a service contract out to 46k) went to the dealer when I couldn't see far enough into the depths of the underside to determine the cause of the coolant leak. They did a TSB for a new electric water pump for free. Then when one of the boost hoses had a loose hose clamps causing a P0101 code for a bad MAF, it went back again.

We paid a guy who came well recommended to demo, frame and drywall a sizable kitchen and new subfloor in it and an adjacent dining room. It turned out well, but I had to manage every microscopic detail and inspect/reject his work every day. After I saw how he'd roughed in PVC venting ("I don't use that purple primer 'cause it gets on everything") I did all the drains, copper feeds, Romex and lighting cans myself.

Tools, life is too short to own E36 M3ty harbor freight tools.

JohnRW1621 wrote: One of my adult luxuries is that I pay to have my grass cut.

^This. I'll do most anything DIY if I have time. I love to learn new things. But yardwork...meh. Back in 2010 when I was building the Wartburg as a full time 2nd job the wife hired a guy to mow so I'd have that time for the car. We never got rid of him, but I did sell my mower this year.

Wheels and tires. I like to get 'em mounted and balanced from Tire Rack even though I could save some $$ by searching CL and junkyards.

Im not GRM with wheels and tires.

As for non auto things Im not GRM with computer and video game things. I usually buy the best rather than make the cheap things work.

The A-arm bushings and fuel pump and hanger assembly in my Mark VII, I farmed out those jobs and paid out the nose for it. I was going to drop off the Crown Vic at a shop for new balljoints until I saw the cost involved, then I said berkeley it and did them myself.

I don't think it's so much that I'm GRM, it's just that I'm an insufferable tight wad with a little mechanical knowledge and ability.

It all comes down to the ratio of laziness and frugality in a person. I definitely lean strongly toward frugality.

I'll do just about anything as far as renovating, but will pay someone else to mud and sand drywall. It's cheap and I suck at it.

I went decidedly non-GRM on my last laptop and have not regretted it.

I think my GRM diy tolerance is directly related to how GRM something is already. I'll be more willing to do something outside of my comfort zone if I am working on something old rather than something new.

I do have a dislike for having to sync up schedules. I hate waiting rooms. I procrastinate about haircuts and the like because I hate having to wait around. I do my own oil changes largely because I don't want to do either the coordination to drop it off or the waiting around required to have someone else do it. I was having the shop next to my office do it because dropping the car off was faster than finding parking, but $50 is a lot for a conventional oil change, and I'm not sure I trust someone else to use a fresh factory crush washer, set the right drain plug torque, or to deal with the aero underbody panels.

I do want something non-GRM to drive around. I want something low-slung and powerful that came from the factory with doors that open in a skyward direction and that was developed in this century. Sadly, I'd have to pay an i8 or SLS, and I don't imagine that will happen any time soon.

DrBoost wrote: I had to thing long and hard to figure out my answer to this question. I think it depends on how you define "GRM". It's not just doing it cheap because you're cheap, IMHO. I think it's a bang-for-the-buck thang. Look at the challenge entrants. People could say "you spent THOUSANDS on THAT!?" But in reality, for about $2,000 the have a car that will whoop most anything at 10-20 times that price. I'm a home theater nut. If I had to guess (it's hard because there is a lot of wheeling and dealing at work over the years) I have less than a challenge car into my setup. But, if I wanted to replicate that from your average Hi-Fi shop, it'd take 10 or more times that to get the same quality. I do my own home repairs, car repairs, wired and plumbed my basement etc. But I did figure out where I'm maybe not 100% GRM. Food. We do NOT buy cheap, processed, crappy food. Our eggs and milk come straight from the farmer. That's more expensive. But our beef comes straight from the farmer as well. How does paying $4.00-$4.50 per pound for Prime Rib sound? On that note, when I buy parts for my car, I don't shop around for the cheapest part, I shop around for the best brand. That may or may not be GRM.

You basically defined the difference between cheap and frugal. Cheap people buy the same poorly made stuff over and over. A frugal person may spend more up front, but buys better quality and takes care of it. To me, being GRM is being frugal.

I still have and use the Lawnboy mower I got for my 11th birthday in 1987. Still starts on the third pull

Computers. I know just enough to know I don't know enough so whenever my computer gives me trouble, I bribe an IT buddy with beer to fix it.

Tire mounting is somewhat of a given since few of us have the tools. THat said, if I can get my shop built, mounting and balancing machines are on the short-list. Not so much to save the money (it won't) but mainly so I can avoid the scheduling aggravation.

Beer.