"Cheaper to Just Buy It"

Maybe this goes in off-topic, but it involves labor and money so maybe it stays in facility operations...

Been thinking a lot about when things are "cheaper to just buy it" rather than build. I suppose the answer to that really depends on how the company is structured. High schools know its very cheap to build stuff in-house; their labor is free. But even they can't build a laminated floating shelf cheaper than Ikea can sell one. I've worked in a small producing theater, with a shop of 2 salaried people, and they were far more concerned with keeping labor costs predictable and stable. They had us for 40 hours a week (when not in tech) and would rather we build stuff than buy something we could build and increase the materials budget. It was a very low material waste shop. But now I work in a union shop and we're very aware when its far more economical to buy a shelf, rather than pay union rate to build one.

Then I hear neighbors or friends saying things about their personal lives, "I'm just going to hire a plumber to replace the toilet, my time is more valuable than doing that". But I'm thinking maybe that's not true unless you're actually working and earning money at the same time as the plumber swapping the toilet, AND you're earning more than he's charging you in that time slot. If that's not the case, you're valuing your non-working hours (when you would be swapping the toilet yourself) MORE than what you earn in the same time during working hours. Recipe for bankruptcy if you apply that logic to every aspect of your life.

I don't really have a point here, just musings on how we say "time is money", yet money is fungible but time isn't...

Maybe when they say "my time is more valuable than doing that" they're not talking about money? Maybe it's about lifestyle, peace of mind or abilities. I mean I *could* paint my house, but I never would because I simply don't like painting.

Then theres the possibility that I do a lot of things myself ... say a kitchen remodel. Knowing the frustration and time of having to babysit the project if someone else is the labor ... because having supervised a major build of a Veterinary Emergency hospital, I had to be on site every day just to avoid omissions and screw ups. Or the time they were building our new over and under scene/costume shop space addition. I happened to be over doing something in the booth and saw a butt load of OSB 3/4 staged in the parking lot when it was obvious that the next step in construction was doing the deck. Scene shop had been spec ed for ply floors.. Phone call to org president, and then him to contractor.. disaster and delay avoided. Want it done right? Capable of doing the job? You have a choice to make.

I did the timing belt replacement on my wife's van. Cost in parts was probably about $300 with radiator fluid, but alternatively it'd be over a $1k repair if I took it in. If the belt fails, that's a dead engine that would be upwards of $3-4k. It took two days doing the swap in my driveway.

I'd have loved to have taken it into the shop and not lost two days of vacation, but with the inflationary egg budget eating into our savings it was not economical for us when I know I can do the work. But, I'm getting old enough now where the novelty of DIY is wearing thin and I'm hoping one day it'll be more of a choice.

StradivariusBone said:

I did the timing belt replacement on my wife's van. Cost in parts was probably about $300 with radiator fluid, but alternatively it'd be over a $1k repair if I took it in. If the belt fails, that's a dead engine that would be upwards of $3-4k. It took two days doing the swap in my driveway.

I'd have loved to have taken it into the shop and not lost two days of vacation, but with the inflationary egg budget eating into our savings it was not economical for us when I know I can do the work. But, I'm getting old enough now where the novelty of DIY is wearing thin and I'm hoping one day it'll be more of a choice.

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Translation: just because I can do it does not mean I want to do it.

I understand. Oy, do I understand.

Lots of things qualify. Anything you don't have a high level of expertise and will incur lots of additional time, or you don't have the tooling to do efficiently yourself...
For example, our scene shop does some metal bending, but on a set with a lot of bends especially with long material or material, they are not set up to handle... Well, that gets sourced out.
Or we just did a set for Controlled Damage that had a key bit of the set made from translucent plastic. Could we of done it ourselves? sure! But our shop was very busy and it was cheaper and more efficient to source that out.
Something if there is something that could be too intricate to do by hand and a CNC solution such as milling or laser cutting would be far cheaper than the labour, we source it to a nearby theatre's shop that has the CNC machines to do it (we don't have any).
There are also things prohibitive to build, why build a full dining room set of table and chairs when you can find it elsewhere? There is a reason most prop departments have lots of storage (I know ours does).

A lot of props are definitely cheaper to buy than to build from scratch, but the second the director wants that Wayfair or IKEA table modified the props carp will be cursing their name.

I can think of one show specifically where we bought some IKEA convertible sofas and ended up rebuilding, resizing and reupholstering the whole thing. We pretty much just bought them for their specialty hinges.

One our sets needed lots of bookshelves. Cheapest option was buy a load of Billy from IKEA and paint them to look aged.

almorton said:

One our sets needed lots of bookshelves. Cheapest option was buy a load of Billy from IKEA and paint them to look aged.

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How'd you get the paint to stick?

Dunno, I'm not one of the painting team, but they were using acrylic scenic paints, possibly Rosco mixed with a little Flint's black, which sticks to practically anything and is completely opaque.

I spent 8 frustrating hours on a Saturday with multiple trips to the store working on a plumbing problem that I never fully resolved. Over the weeks that followed there were several more short attempts to resolve the issue. It got bad again a few weeks later and I called a plumber. He charged a little over $100 and he was done in and out of the house in less than an hour.

All the time and frustration was far more valuable than the $100 and next time I'll just call the plumber.

On the flip side, our table saw fence rail needed replacement, and it was definitely cheaper for me to buy and finish 2x3 stick of 1/8” steel than try to buy a replacement premade fence.

gafftapegreenia said:

On the flip side, our table saw fence rail needed replacement, and it was definitely cheaper for me to buy and finish 2x3 stick of 1/8” steel than try to buy a replacement premade fence.

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Which leads us to the area of expertise angle of this. I would never hire an electrician around the house because I can easily do it myself just as quickly and skillfully. But I am done with household plumbing.

gafftaper said:

Which leads us to the area of expertise angle of this. I would never hire an electrician around the house because I can easily do it myself just as quickly and skillfully. But I am done with household plumbing.

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Currently Im happy to do minor plumbing jobs (snake a drain, seat a toilet, change a faucet) but more serious stuff id probably hire out.

We definitely hired roofers to do our house tho. I’ve done one roof, and that was enough.

gafftapegreenia said:

A lot of props are definitely cheaper to buy than to build from scratch, but the second the director wants that Wayfair or IKEA table modified the props carp will be cursing their name.

I can think of one show specifically where we bought some IKEA convertible sofas and ended up rebuilding, resizing and reupholstering the whole thing. We pretty much just bought them for their specialty hinges.

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This is one of those times where the scenic designer and production manager's input matters more than the director's.

Todays project.. About 100 bucks in pipe and fittings, pulled the lumber from the re use racks. I know they make projector mounts, but our geometry is weird, so I'm going side by side instead of stacked.

theatricalmatt said:

This is one of those times where the scenic designer and production manager's input matters more than the director's.

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Are you saying the piece shouldn't have been modified to fit the required actions? Or that the design production team should have been more active in early discussions?

gafftaper said:

Which leads us to the area of expertise angle of this. I would never hire an electrician around the house because I can easily do it myself just as quickly and skillfully. But I am done with household plumbing.

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More musings: Yes that's a good point about expertise. I wonder too about the incalculable qualities of expertise. Sure, a high level of competence is more valuable than low levels. But the process of attaining competence or expertise seems like an added value. I replumbed my whole house when we bought it. Learned A LOT. It took way more time to do it than a pro and looks messier, but it passed inspection and I haven't had any issues. I'm never going to replumb my house again, but the secondary effects of going through that learning process are going to stick around though. I've got more confidence in my ability to tackle new challenges, I'm better at navigating obstacles as they arise, I'm more humble about my own ignorance and I'm quicker to ask for advice. If I had paid the plumber to do the work (not that I could afford him anyway, lol) I wouldn't have the intangible benefits of going through the process....

To the other point, I did most of the wiring in my house as well, but I did pay the electrician to replace the panel and cable from the meter. I read enough on the internet that said DON'T DO THIS YOURSELF and didn't feel like dying because of my ignorance. "Cheaper to just buy it" in this case I think...

I love tackling this personal projects. It gives me an excuse to buy tools. I generally spend far less than having a contractor do it. I'm also young and competent enough (and close enough to a hardware store) to not get myself in too much trouble.

Professionally, I frequently lean on cheaper to buy it than build it. My company started a very long time ago (1976), and we had a long history of building what isn't available to buy. But in the modern production world, it is nearly always cheaper, faster, easier, and safer to find a pre-built option.

gafftaper said:

I spent 8 frustrating hours on a Saturday with multiple trips to the store working on a plumbing problem that I never fully resolved. Over the weeks that followed there were several more short attempts to resolve the issue. It got bad again a few weeks later and I called a plumber. He charged a little over $100 and he was done in and out of the house in less than an hour.

All the time and frustration was far more valuable than the $100 and next time I'll just call the plumber.

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I'm on the other side of this equation, often, since my day job has been business IT for 30 years or more; even so, I farm out things I haven't the time or energy to learn how to do, especially if they don't happen very often, plumbing being the most prominent example.