Do you really want to Build your Own House?
Similarities between Home Contractors & Automotive Repair
You can shop for subcontractors and supplies and deal with research and problems and warranties yourself -and you may save some money…if nothing major goes wrong. Or you can have a professional do it.
Same goes for your car. You can shop for the cheapest spark plug at one place and have someone install it (since you can’t even see the plugs anymore to do it yourself). Or you can have your car guy take care of it and he’ll use his experience of which spark plugs work well in your particular car (and which plugs he wouldn’t trust farther than he could throw them!). He’s also the one to stand behind those parts (and the labor).
I’ve found that it’s usually cheaper to do it right the first time: After all, if you don’t have the time or money to do it correctly now, how are you ever going to be able to do it over again?
Now, don’t let your contractor build you a condo complex when what you want is a vacation home. And the same goes for your car contractor: he should be trusted to know not only what is best for a particular car, but what is best for the way you intend to use your car. For instance, you need to care differently for a short term lease than a car that is expected to give its real life expectancy of 100, 200 or 300,000 miles.
Think of the relationship this way a “contractor” is “contractually bound” to providing you with a service and you expect service that is in your best interest. Since you don’t want to build your own house, all you need to do is choose your contractor.
