Have you tried to fix anything lately? Between ultrasonic welding, firmware, the disappearance of spare parts, and the who-needs-leisure-time-work-until-you-die mentality, and a general total complexity explosion, fixing stuff got hard. Hell, I have products in my house that I literally designed -- I'm on the patent, I have the full electronic and mechanical CAD, I have as much of the code as anyone, I have the bloody design documents, and I can't fix them because the moment I open one to get access to the goodies, it'll never go back together again. (That's just cost-engineering plus IP54 at work, nothing nefarious.)

So don't tell me I'm not handy enough. It's simply not 1952 anymore.

I usually tries to fix stuff. Just this summer I fixed the timing relay on my coffee machine. But as you note many times you just have to give up or not even bother trying.

However houses are still pieces of wood nailed together. Maintenance of cars are still mainly mechanical parts you can replace yourself.

> who-needs-leisure-time-work-until-you-die mentality

Everyone I knew or know in the older generation that built their own homes took time off or quit to build for some months. Maybe that is harder today.

Houses are pieces of wood nailed together in such a way that they meet building code

Ye you need to know what you are doing of course.

My point is that houses are not like electronics were ICs have become like unsolderable for DIY due too small size SMDs.

I could do what a carpenter does, if I just were competent. Which I am not.

I feel the same. Yet I know a couple, music teacher and beauty therapist, who built 2 houses themselves.

How did they handle wiring and HVAC? The foundation and drain tile?

All of that is pretty simple if you try. Especially the Wiring. You just need someone licensed to come hook up your breaker box.

My understanding is that you can pull the wires your self but should not connect them without a pro for insurance reasons.

And the foundation you need excavators and trucks with filler material and maybe concrete so you need external help with that.

Most household projects are not that complex, and can be YouTube’d for guidance. One can save lots of money renovating by him or herself.

It’s about choosing how you spend your time after work…Netflix vs. adding equity. Moreover, the physical nature of the work nicely offset the sedentary nature of working in tech.

You're right, though as someone with basic hand tool skills but poor instincts it isn't always easy to tell which projects are that complex before I make a mess of it.

Yeah, it would be interested to compare annual spend on professional services versus TV consumption. I think the average ammerican now spends more than 40 hours a week watching TV, and social media consumption is on top of that.

I suspect you’re lamenting appliance or electronic complexity versus building construction?

I had a LED light driver fail so I replaced the high-voltage capacitor and now it works fine.

Small victory.

>> There is a shortage of handy people is my take.

I don't think that. The housing prices are so high due "network effects". The land costs more than the house and everyone wants the same land parcel. I would definitely buy a land parcel and build a nice house but that parcel's almost 4 times more expensive than 2 bedroom flat so I stick to the overpriced 2 bedroom for now.

There’s also an explosion of building codes and inspection requirements that didn’t exist in the 50s.

The inspection requirements only exist if you pull a permit.

Harder to get away with if you’re building a whole house, but if you’re just DIY’ing something boring no one can see… you should consider your options.

How about insurance? Can that mess you up since mortgage requires your house to be insured.

That's a very uninformed take.

To put it very mildly :)

It’s illegal to do it yourself in many places.

In the US, it is not illegal to do work yourself anywhere. However, all work needs the proper permitting and inspections, which a layperson does not have experience doing.

So on top of learning how to do the work, you also have to learn how to do the paperwork, and know what will and will not pass inspection. At which point, many people decide they might as well hire a professional.

In 1970s Oregon, I knew four cases where a guy built a house for his family over a few years. They were all outside town. I haven't heard of such projects for a long time, but then I live in town and don't hang out much with that age group.