When to DIY, when to hire

I married a very handy guy. Seriously - when it comes to carpentry, electrical problems, and basic plumbing, all I have to do is tell him there's a problem, and after some pounding and cursing, it's fixed.

But we all have weak points. Mine is replacing zippers. Jake's is finishing drywall - he can hang it, no problem. There's hardly a gap between the sheets when he's done. But taping, mudding/spackling, and sanding is a special kind of torture for both of us. We've done it before when we were getting the house ready to move into, and the results were pretty amateurish.

The new bedroom under the front porch has had drywall hung and ready for finishing for 2 months. Every time Jake even thinks about having to work on it, I see his stress level rise. So yesterday I started calling guys from craigslist that advertised themselves as drywall workers.

Our best quote (for a room using something less than 24 drywall panels) was $300, $350 if he had to use his own mud and supplies. Now that Jake is working again, it's not like we're rolling in cash, but at least we have positive cash flow. He's working between 40 - 50 hours a week, so when he's home he's tired - and in the next few weeks he'll be switching to 2nd shift when his orientation phase is over. $300 sounds cheap to have the project move forward again, when you consider the alternative is it just won't get done for a few more months.

Once the drywall is finished, my MIL has the primer and paint already purchased, and for some reason she ENJOYS painting. From there, we need to get carpet installed (another thing we always hire) and install light fixtures. Then we need to knock down a wall and erect another wall to cut down one bedroom into a bedroom and hallway to the new bedroom - if the drywall guy is good, we'll ask for his help then, too. Then a bit more carpet, a little ceiling tile work, and paint, and the downstairs will actually be DONE. I doubt this will be done before next Christmas, but a girl can hope, right?  :)

As a meme says, If a man says he'll do a project, he'll do it. You don't need to nag him about it every six months!