The story of my life. If I don't know how to fix it myself, usually, I learn.
You know, learning do do most work myself, from auto to building to groundswork has saved me enough to have a complete shop mostly for "free" by the money not paid to others. I had a rule to not pay out more in salary to others than I earned in after-tax income myself. Read that again; it's basic financial sense.
For example, if I made $30 pre-tax pay, my wage after-tax was on the order of $18-$20.
Now, we are not talking about your
average tax but the tax on the
last dollars earned and it really does approximate 40% if you're in a profession.
Federal, state, local, school, social security and even job related expenses add up.
So, if you clear $18 after-tax, why on earth pay a dealership $90--or more-- plus parts mark-up plus maybe tax on the labor to do simple work?
You can only afford in life to pay someone a wage that is less than your after-tax wage unless it's for a specialty that you are not capable of.
Other than that, study up and pay youself to learn. Sure, you can find isolated exemptions here, and this is an illustration, but the premise is spot on.
Just my two cents.