Also the initial claim is just false — “if you live in the United States today, and you accidentally knock a hole in your wall, it’s probably cheaper to buy a flatscreen TV and stick it in front of the hole, compared to hiring a handyman to fix your drywall“. I can tell you that this isn’t true in San Diego. Unless they’re using flatscreen tvs that cost less than $300? Or perhaps making extremely difficult-to-patch holes somehow
I live in the UK, and it’s basically £100 to get a tradesperson to show up to my front door regardless of what I want them to do. I can buy a flat screen TV from £100 new from one of the UK high street retailers [1] , or £85 [2] if I go on Amazon
[1] https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7623909?clickPR=plp:6:323
[2] https://amzn.eu/d/bVCBLv3
Its also for free to repair a hole in the hand after trying to knock a hole into the wall ;)
Not free if your time has a value :)
This is true in pretty much every western country sadly.
TV's are really absurdly cheap (and awful) on the low end, we're not talking about your 60" LG OLED with AI TV here, we're talking: a screen with maybe 720p and a viewing angle of: dead centre.
Hiring a handyman is, what, $100/h in most countries, then there's a minimum call-out fee and materials cost- worse "I don't have the part". You're looking at about $300~ easy.
But for $129 you can get this; https://a.co/d/7cdztf8
50" tv for $239 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D4P176B8
Huh, i stand corrected, thanks! I think this brings both options to similar prices, so at the very least the spirit of the quote is true. Here’s my math:
- My handyman changes $50/hour, but if you find a new person maybe they charge $75-$100/hour
- materials are cheap, probably like $50 total for mud and drywall, or a repair kit
- with two hours labor, the total should be somewhere from $150-$250.
- if the handyman won’t accept a job less than 4 hours, the range is $250-$450.