Some time ago, HGTV had a program showing a husband and wife team building multilevel pressure-treated decks that they said would take anyone just a weekend to do.

To the viewer’s eyes, this couple never made a wrong measurement or a bad cut. Their outcry was, “look at all the money you could save by not hiring a contractor!”Yeah, right!The power saws, the miter saws, the router, the work bench alone that they used must have cost over a thousand dollars in addition to the all the wood and hardware necessary for the projects.I used to have this notion that tool belt guys were sexy to a lot of women. After all, you want a playroom for the kids added to the house, no problem, Tool Belt Guy says. “I’ll knock it out in three days.”You say you want custom bookshelves built in the study? “Give me a day,” says the TBG.There are plenty of guys who are better than me when it comes to building or fixing something, but sooner or later we all run into problems with our projects. A friend of mine, known for his construction and repairs around his house, tells the truth behind the tools.“There’s always going to be a problem when you do a house project,” he says.” You’re on a ladder outside putting up vinyl siding, and you drop a hammer right through the glass of a bay window below you. You’re painting a dormer on the roof and you knock over a can of paint onto the shingles.”These are major disasters, but the minor troubles can also bring screams of expletives from the mouths of handymen everywhere.Hit your thumb while banging a nail. Wrench your back lifting sheet rock. Drop your glasses into the open hole below the old toilet you’re replacing.I’ve had my share of build and repair issues, too. I’ve painted, wallpapered and made many minor repairs in the houses I have lived in. I have to admit that there is a good feeling and a sense of accomplishment when I finish a project successfully, especially after making a few mistakes along the way.When men aren’t talking about women or sports, their conversations will often turn to home projects. Some guys brag about hanging a storm door or building a custom shed as if they were Bob Vila or Norm Abrams, master craftsmen from “This Old House,” the TV program that gets credit for starting the do-it-yourself craze.Women have jumped into the DIY scene, too. I watch several shows where ladies run power saws, knock down walls with sledgehammers and reface fireplaces. Just like with the tool belt guys, these shows lead you to believe the ladies do their work without a glitch from start to finish.Guys I hang with will admit that a two-hour job installing a small tile bathroom floor can take most of a day. For one TBG, replacing an old toilet took several hours and two trips for forgotten parts to Lowe’s.A former neighbor of mine once spent an entire weekend putting up an aboveground pool. No one told him the ground underneath the pool had to be leveled off.When his wife jumped into the water, the walls of the pool suddenly shifted and collapsed, sending her and hundreds of gallons of water blasting through their fence and yard.Her body came to rest in my backyard while I was cooking hot dogs on my grill. She looked up at me from the ground and said, “I guess we should have gotten a water slide instead.”The pool was damaged beyond repair. She and her husband were left with a messy cleanup and I could have stocked trout on my backyard lawn until all the water finally drained into the ground a week later.Saving money by not hiring a contractor is not always prudent, especially when the homeowner has limited knowledge to complete the project.Then, there’s the guy who starts remodeling his kitchen and four months later, it’s still not finished.His wife finally loses her lost patience. Tomorrow, you will see a kitchen contractor’s truck parked in their driveway.Rich Strack can be reached at

katehep11@gmail.com.