Originally Posted by joedoh
how many times have you said "while I am doing this thing, I should really do this other thing too"? Its the "while I am in there" clause, and its why projects take longer. part of it is your budget estimate gets flexible in the middle, meaning you might say at the project start ONLY $XXXX. but you spend most of it up front and then have income in the interim, so its easier to spend more and more percentages on while I am in there stuff, because you dont feel the budget slipping like you would if you were building for someone else.
if you are counting on other people to do work, I can understand how the schedule "moves right", which is a MS Project term for extending the end day. they call it paint prison for a reason, painters SAY they love doing custom work but it always seems to be their lowest priority.
one more reason the schedule stretches is because frequently you dont work on your own stuff the way you would if you were getting paid to do it. I have heard guys say "I worked on X and X multiple tens of thousand dollar builds" and their truck hangs around for 10 years, 20 years. when you get paid to do it, usually you are working with a team and a project manager that will stick a hot poker up your rear when you are late. doing it for yourself, being that project manager, frequently you let yourself off the hook. I did high end custom car stereo in my younger days, my daily truck has a am/fm only radio with one working speaker. I'll get to it someday.
anyway, TLDR: set the project goals and stick to them only, dont extend the amount of work as you go, dont add budget because you can afford it. work like you are paying yourself, because really you are. for the third party work, I have no advice. I have paid up front, paid when completed, partial paid for materials, paid based on milestones, nothing has worked. tradesmen can be terrible people, no lie. haha.
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