Should've been a 5 minute job...

Ha. It’s not even about abilities or how well you learned or didn’t learn. It just seems that more often than not, something unexpected comes into play... “Oh, gotta run to Home Depot to get a tool I don’t have!” There’s always something stupid that makes everything take longer and a bigger PITA. Murphy’s law , I suppose. I’m a DIY’er by nature. I like doing projects but with limited time, it can be annoying.

Always add on at least a third/half extra of the time that you think the job is going to take!;)
 
Man, that really boosts my confidence knowing I'm about to go buy some more track for my track lighting. I've watched my dad do tons of home improvements over the years, and apparently I don't learn well from watching. That gene did not get passed on! (In fairness, he and I did remodel the game room at my old house and it turned out really well - and reminded me why I don't particularly like doing that stuff.)

Ha. It’s not even about abilities or how well you learned or didn’t learn. It just seems that more often than not, something unexpected comes into play... “Oh, gotta run to Home Depot to get a tool I don’t have!” There’s always something stupid that makes everything take longer and a bigger PITA. Murphy’s law , I suppose. I’m a DIY’er by nature. I like doing projects but with limited time, it can be annoying.

This is why my new plan is to just let sh!t fall apart.
 
Track lighting install last night, after the Iron Maiden show. First step - separate the old track to insert a T-connector. First hint that it wasn’t going to be as smooth as imagined was when some of the inner track slid out. Then the end cap fell off the track and behind my amp. Okay, that wasn’t too bad. Pop the T in, plug the track back together, add power and...it’s still dark. Turns out the track slid out the other way this time, so I had to put the end cap on first, then reconnect. That time, everything lit up. Cool. Now it’s time to drag the son away from his XBox to help me put up the new 8-foot track. Naturally, because of the way it was running, none of the holes lined up with the seams in the tile. But I was prepared for that. So we marked the track and drilled new holes. Connect it, put one screw in to hold it, grab one of the new lights and...it doesn’t light up. Oh, right - I forgot there’s a switch on this light. I bought one before and didn’t realize it at first. Except this light doesn’t have a switch and it turns out it’s not the one I bought before. So I pop it on the old section of track that is working and it lights up. Back to the new - still dark. Grab one of the old lights, put it on the new section - lights right up. So we pop the other two screws in the track and I put the new lights on the old section of track and put the switched light on the new so it will light up my new CD cabinets and I can turn it off to keep glare out of my eyes when I play video games. Then my son says, “Man, that corner seems dark.” Turns out the new lights aren’t as bright and have a different temperature than the last one I bought that I really like. So it’s back to Lowe’s tom’w.

So, quick 30 minute job took almost two hours and I still have to exchange two lights and buy one or two more to replace one that had burned out and one that broke. I’m buying replacement lights so I can gradually convert from the halogen bulbs to the cooler and more environmentally friendly LEDs. But at least this next bit will be quick.
 
I guy I worked with for quite a while declared Hal’s Law: multiply the estimate by 2 and increase the time unit by 1. It was usually in the ballpark in the software universe.
That’s called a WAG...a wild a$$ed guess! “For budgetary purposes” is a euphemism for 2x padding! ;)
 
DIY is great when it goes to plan.

Not so much when it doesn’t.

However there is that sense of achievement that you have from completing a job yourself.

Plus the money that you save!
 
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