O wow, this is so true. Eating sausage and knowing how it's made are just very different things. And you can't quite go back to the former after having seen/done the former.

I am assuming, based on the old saying, you are recommending NOT seeing how the sausage gets made?

Well, let me just say that they'll never taste quite the same. Obviously you'll need to renovate parts of your house over time, but as I summarize it to my friends, I care most about the parts of the renovation I you won't be able to see. How is the paint job behind the wall-mounted heater? Did they clear up rubble in that space under you kitchen? Did they tile over your old tiles (usually easy to see) and do you now have small spaces between the tiles where water can collect over time?

This is why my wife hates house hunting with me. I see all the flaws.

True. Source: My own experience.

Drywall, too.

And roofing.

Some defects can be tolerated and DIY’d away, but roofing, plumbing and foundations are something you really don’t want to discover later.

or bending and installing conduit

Also true for terminating a panel, punchdown, keystone, lacing, etc.

or painting

or cutting grass. my god. give me the tools and i'll give you a putting green fit for the pga

is this after you rip out the grass that is already there and then replace it with a grass that is amneable to to a putting green? because if you can make my St. Augustine grass a putting green, then you sir, are a god.

I can probably get it pretty playable and fast over the course of a season or two of working it shorter and shorter and rolling the playing surface smooth. At least municipal golf course tier.