I have begged H to let us hire painters and someone to help with the fence but he adamantly refuses. Oh well, pick our battles.
We do all the small things like mowing the lawn/shoveling - very minor repairs (leaky faucet type stuff) and I do all the cleaning and all the gardening (it’s my passion.) H doesn’t mind painting, either. Everything else we pay to have done.
Years ago, we did everything ourselves except septic tank maintenance. Then dh was injured and I started hiring help for projects like roof repair, window replacement and exterior painting. I did the yard work, interior painting, tiling, floor refinishing, etc. After I developed carpal tunnel syndrome, I could no longer paint for more than 10 - 15 minutes without a lot of pain and other jobs became more difficult over the years.
When our finances improved, I hired a maid to come once a week when I was working. That was a long time ago. At our current home, I’ve had cleaning help an average of once a year. Dh wants to me to hire a service to come every other week, but so far I haven’t found any worth their cost. We do have a yard service. The HVAC guys come twice a year for seasonal service, but otherwise I don’t have anyone who regularly does work here. We haven’t worked on our appliances or cars for at least 20 years.
My mother had daily help for some years, then weekly help. Eventually, I became her maid. She didn’t have anyone routinely clean for her again until she went into assisted living. My folks downsized from a large house to a 2 bd./2ba. condo when mother was about 60. Mother assigned dad the vacuuming, mopping and doing the dishes while she did the other chores. As much as my dh hates having strangers in our home, he still would prefer that I hire help and makes it clear he won’t be vacuuming our house daily like my dad had to do.
“… except septic tank maintenance.”
LOL, this is a given. I also do not consider cars as being household objects - we do take them to the shop for maintenance. H used to change oil himself, but it was not economical at all.
Outside help? What’s that? My husband does everything around the house, except for that woman type stuff, which I am stuck with. He works his butt off, constantly. I don’t know why. He is the project man, We do hire professionals to fix our car and our furnace, though.
Hired professional tradespeople for roof, siding, window replacement , arborist for our giant trees, new driveway, mulch delivery. And we splurged last year and had someone else clean the second story gutters.
Did our own work for landscaping, yardening, sod replacement, painting, wallpaper stripping, floor installations, appliances, car stuff that is simple, all housework…When we first moved in, a neighbor politely gave us the name of the chemical yard sprayer “everyone” uses, and we equally politely declined to spray stuff on our grass. As a compromise, we apply dandelion killer each early spring, ourselves. But we still give directions that include “our house is the one with the dandelions” because it’s pretty obvious who didn’t get with the program
We hire nobody yet, not for the last 10-15 years. But if the roof collapses we will hire someone, we already gave away our super tall ladder. But we do take our time to do things, not in a hurry.
Deb922- I think of it as MEs are in another time zone…mine will often leave just a bit of some major task undone.
We hire out housecleaning (every other week), all auto maintenance and repair, roofing (but not maintenance), and major remodels.
My husband enjoys gardening, is a mechanical engineer & works with enough of other engr types that he can figure out any issue with the house (electrical, plumbing, repairs & maintenance of all sorts). He rebuilt a Mustang in his youth and used to do all the car stuff. Once vehicles got more complicated and time was short, we started using dealers/repair shops, but he can do quick repairs or maintenance when needed. We will do painting (interior and exterior), but have come to agree that all future drywall projects will be hired out.
We did hire a company to cut down and chip our 3 huge trees in our front yard and have contractors do the roof work, photovoltaic and solar. We also hire plumbers and electricians when needed. It is not cost effective or safe for us to do such things. We have the robotic vacuum cleaners doing the vacuuming and don’t see any need for more than that.
Mr. B is salivating at the prospect of self-installing a charging station in our garage for his future electric tin can on wheels. I guarantee that he would want to add some solar panels, too.
Zeebamom, lol on the hiring out drywall!
I always laugh when I meet other wives of engineers. We can all relate.
Goodness, DH and I must be the laziest (or least competent) people on CC.
I have a house cleaner every two weeks. Guys come to cut the lawn every week. We tried to shovel the snow in the driveway ourselves, but after the last two winters we had, we gave up. (A plow is so much more efficient!) We hired someone to power wash, stain and seal the deck. We always have the AC guys service the system in the spring and the furnace guys service that in the fall. Neither DH nor I do anything on the cars other than fill them with gas. We even pay once a year to have them detailed.
We do walk the dogs ourselves, and we entertain a lot, so I cook. And, I’m just beginning a re-upholstery project, so there’s something we don’t outsource!
We are not handy with house repairs in the slightest. I have no qualms about outsourcing most everything.
Tree trimmers, gardeners, house painters, plumbers, electricians, gutter and roof repair, kitchen and bath remodel contractors, & weekly pool service. Also a housekeeper twice a month, since my cancer diagnosis seven years ago, as I’m not suppose to vacuum or lift more than 5lbs. (yeah, right…) My Dh is the most un-handy man alive, but he has other talents. 
He brings in the bucks so we can pay all of our outside help! He would always rather have the time than the money it costs to do home repairs.
I/we try to do as much as we can, but given the kind of hours my job requires there are things it just doesn’t pay me to do. I can do plumbing, sweat soldering and such, but when I recently needed to get some small plumbing jobs, was easier hiring a handyman service kind of guy. Likewise, I know how to work on appliances, but it is just a lot easier to get someone else to do it. On the other hand, I am finishing off the basement by myself (taking a long time, but no rush:), I do all the yard work, I can do electrical work if need be (I wired the outlets and lights in my basement), we do painting and such. I don’t work on cars, I grew up working on them, probably have the equivalent of an ASE general mechanic certificate, but between the fact that cars these days don’t really need much maintenance and my lack of time, it makes sense to have them serviced. Even things like Oil Changes are cheap enough that doing it myself doesn’t save much money. I also recently had the garage door opener replaced, just didn’t want to bother with it.
I install the appliances, I often buy appliances that are showroom stock and bring them home. Likewise, if the hot water heater needs repair or replacing, I’ll do it, it is not a big job and doing it myself costs a lot less, probably half the cost when they install it. I don’t really do maintenance on the heating units, I have a service contract with the gas company for that. When the time comes (hopefully it can wait until my son is out of school!), the roof will be professionally done, between the risk of working on the roof, and the cost of the material, it almost doesn’t pay to do it myself.
We did absolutely everything ourselves for years including painting, car maintenance, lawn, repairs, etc. Then when the kids got old enough they did a bunch of it. Now that they are grown and gone and we’re old we have a lawn service, take our cars in for routine maintenance and when I’m feeling especially overwhelmed will hire a cleaner now and then. Not a big fan of someone in my home though and don’t think it’s done right unless I do it.
The roof was actually pretty easy to find someone, except that H wanted someone who said they would include rebuilding the gutters as well. But I read the contract, and it sounded * very open ended* as to what hourly rate and final cost would be, and that made me wary, so I went with another company that would gave a firm bid.
The work went well, and considering, I guess they didn’t damage * too much* of the landscaping, but I would have rather that they left no trace at all. I realize that’s unrealistic though, and they were fast and pleasant to work with.
My father was a chemical engineer. He could build anything. My H does not live up to that ideal, but he is a lot better than his own father who did nothing at all except golf and watch TV.
I forgot to mention previously that we do have a plow guy–now a gal–in the winter.
Pet care - that’s the only thing - a family that takes my dog into their house when I go away, and two people that come to take care of the animals that have to remain in the apartment, because moving them back and forth is too stressful for them.
I mean, I’d love to hire out some things. But for me, like most of the American population, it’s a financial impossibility.
H and I are lazy, spoiled, and incompetent. We are not good at much and unwilling to spend the time when we can pay others to do the work.
I have had a housekeeper since a year after we married. H never learned to clean and did not clean up after himself, even though he thought he did. MIL did not allow the “boys” to lift a finger. FIL was an auto mechanic, but H did not get the fix-it gene.
I did the lawn until D1 arrived. My standards are pretty high and H approaches jobs with a “good enough” mindset. 21 yrs later I still have the same lawn guy who mows, trims, edges, will do small landscape jobs. H does the gardens that don’t face the street, because “good enough” doesn’t cut it for me.
We hire out all repairs, remodel jobs, car maintenance and repairs. I painted until my back couldn’t take it any more: H’s standards too low in year 2 of marriage so I fired him.
S2 (son with autism) shovels the snow. I use the snowblower when the drifts are too high, but the drive is only 40 feet long.
My mother hired a housekeeper at age 85 to come once a month, and then she cleaned before the cleaner came. SIL hired a housekeeper for the inlaws, but MIL did the same thing, plus cleaned after she left.
I do the cooking and most of the laundry. And that’s about it.