Do you really saves money by DIY?

Most of us like to think we save money by DIY, do we? Often I do and could also be my underlying motivation subconsciously!

However, this is a very subjective question. It very much depend on what is the undertaking and how much we know before embarking on it.

In regard to farm designs, I didn't seek the service of any consultants. Took time to read & learn from many sources, visited as many farms as I could and dialogue with many experienced farmers; question the logic and understood the rational behind with scientific principles etc. It is well worth the time and efforts, for it is the the acquired knowledge forming the foundation of the undertaking. One may not get such understandings if simply follows a consultant faithfully (or blindly).

Fair to say there are many empirical rules & rules of the thumb around. One needs to keep an open mind & regard them as hypothesis yet to be proven and time tested again. The whole subject is a live study! So my farm design do incorporate features for future experimentations as I progress onwards.

On the other hand, one could legitimately argue in favor of shortening the learning curve via engaging a consultant. Then which consultant, a typical next question?

Also if one venture out on a lone journey that can end up with expensive & irreversible mistakes! It waste more valuable time and money if not a catastrophe! So it is a very personal decision to take within one's comfort zone.

Take another example I undertook to put together my bird sound system. As an electronic engineer by training, I do feel competent enough to understand all the technicalities in depth; read through all the myths about of how good a sound system should be (so to sell you an expensive system) etc. (May be someday I'll write an ebook about it)

Indeed I did save "cash out of pocket" when I tally all the expenditures for parts and components. But when you do it for the first time, sourcing all the various parts took numerous trips. Too often the cost of finding little things far outweigh the cost of purchases - running around for hardwares in order to put them together!

So is this a case of "penny wise pound foolish"?




















Of course I could justify myself with hoards of other reasons.. the need to customize it for compactness, nothing in the market optimize for my requirements etc.

Most of it all is a sense of personal satisfaction - the most intangible part of DIY undertaking!




















The final words here is not about $ savings by DIY. If you sit and think deeper during quiet moments, there are many DIY improvements you can make to your farms! Whether it will have an immediate impact to accelerate population growth, only time can tell through experimentations.