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Bob, I know what you mean about "carpenter" that's why I titled this tradesman. There aren't many that can do it all to a high level of quality
I was fortunate that my dad's philosophy has always been " why buy it when we could build it or make it. He highly educated but has always had an interest in other things as his hobbies as he definitely not a sports guy. Captain in the army. Great job with the state. Absolutely hated video games and wouldn't allow them in house. Mom was an ER nurse. We weren't poor and could more than afford what we needed and things we wanted. Lbut enjoyed to make and fix everything and use stuff till it was beyond McGyvering. My mom loves to sew and knit as her hobby so liked to make a lot of our clothes. dad a tinkerer. He would take night classes at vocational schools esp how to weld. He worked in a garage in college so fixed the cars. I tell him all the time after the past few weeks dealing with our cars I don't know how he fixed the cars by just reading amd looking at black and white pictures ina giant repair manual. Thank god we have YouTube videos cause even with that it is frustrating We made most our toys ( guns, trucks, and such). As the crap available in the toy isles weren't what we wanted. We loved to play war in the woods We'd go to gun shops and trace the guns we wanted and make them out of wood in the extensive work shop in the basement. Most of our toys survived our abuses and are still being used by all of our kids today
My younger brother is the only one of the us 4 that didn't go to college as he was an auto mechanic. He is the most successful one of us as he a fire fighter and now water dept superintendant. We completely gutted and rebuilt his house so I learned a lot that I wouldnt deal with in corporate America. Glad i did cause that's how I became a carpenter more out of convenience about 12 yrs ago when we started havin kids and I became mr mom ( not the dream job I thought it would be) as wife the bread winner. Guy I played hockey with that had been doin carpentry his whole life had just gone out on his own and needed a 2nd set hands. I could use a tape measure and knew that a hammer was to hit, a saw to cut, how to read a tape measure, and use power tools with out cutting my fingers off. He was an absolute hack. Fortunately after a year another hockey buddy was in the same predictment, was gonna pay me more, and have now been with him for 12 yrs. He was pretty green, and yet again younger than me, but took
Pride in his work. We work extremely well together and have better expertise in different aspects that complement each other like a fine oiled machine. There is NOTHInG from frame to finish that we dont do to a higher level quality than specific subs that we have tried that why we do it all ourselves but cause it's our names on the work and the homeowners trust and want that.
But now kids are all off to school and like others have said, my body just can't take the abuse anymore
Hopefully time to put college education back to use so I don't have to suffer in the elements
But I am more than grateful for the ability to problem solve and fix stuff
Around here cause even though my time is at a premium, it is a better feeling to spend the time to fix stuff myself than waste it away watching tv just to pay some else my hard earned money to fix stuff esp since things are made like crap these days and my kids excel at breaking stuff.
Why buy it when I can build or fix it myself
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