Construction Site vs. Doctor’s Office 2.0
Let’s start with the question from the previous post. Remember – I promised to compare taking independent action on the construction site with taking self-medication!

Why pay an expert when you can make a mistake yourself?

Rarely will someone hire a construction company to do an renovation. A planner, if they really have to. More often than not, craftsmen will be hired for specific tasks that we don’t know about – electricity, water. Mostly it will be done independently with family or friends, and definitely no one will decide to supervise their own suffering.
When you are sick, you try to solve the problem yourself. Some people bring down the temperature with cabbage leaves, most people go to the chemist’s to buy pills. They very often solve the pain themselves with heat, although ice is the method of choice. They only go to the doctor when the pain is severe. They go for tests on the advice of a doctor. Who hires a supervisor? Nobody? It’s not exactly like that. There are exceptions.

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Let’s come back to the dilemma of fast, cheap and good. Let’s take a look at the financial and formal-legal aspects of do-it-yourself construction and healing.

A one-way ticket to cost and stress

Financially profitable – do-it-yourself construction and healing. Yes, in the short term and provided there are no hidden situations unknown to us laymen.
Example 1:
You haven’t thoroughly cleaned the surface to be painted, you haven’t applied a protective layer before insulation – you’ve done it quickly and cheaply. The quality comes back to haunt you: Instead of a coating that will last for several years, next year you will have ‘stains’ to repair. And then there’s the cost – in time and materials!
Example 1a:
You have a slight cold, your head is foggy, the pain isn’t unbearable but it’s pressing. The temperature has risen, you’ve taken a few strong pills against everything and anything, slept through the night and tomorrow you’re as good as new! It was quick and cheap. Even if you only had a virus, you should have stopped. If you haven’t been to the dentist for a long time, you may have a bacterial focus somewhere around the tooth root.
After the first temperature comes the second, the third, the resistance weakens and you get a big sinus infection and you have a bit of an accident – it went down – it went down into the bronchi and the lungs. And here’s the cost – you don’t work for days, you spend money on drugs and examinations, all to speed up the process.

The financial consequences of self-construction and self-therapy are inversely proportional to the quality, savings, and time we devote to them. In translation: Quick and cheap at the beginning does not promise quality, but the risk of consequences!

Without papers, you are invisible until you become a problem

The formal and legal aspect is a story in itself.
Construction – papers are only collected when necessary, but sick leave is taken when necessary and when not!
Example 2:
You are building a new roof on the garage, you build two rows of bricks while the work is going on. You don’t even think about asking for permission – because no one will notice and because it’s expensive. Or vice versa. But after a few years, there are new neighbours (you know how it is with property – buy cheap, sell high and repeat as often as possible). Well, so that the new neighbour can sell for more than he bought, he builds two brick rows. The third buyer asks for papers, a measurer comes out and measures everything within 100 meters. Not because they are doing you a favour, but because they are charging you. Here again is the dilemma of speed, price and quality.
Example 2a:
You don’t go on sick leave because your back hurts a bit or you feel a bit dizzy. OK. You go to work and have to stand all day, serving customers, for example. Then what has to happen happens: You sneak into the warehouse for a few minutes to rest. The customer doesn’t mind waiting a few minutes anyway.
What if you move the story to a hospital and the main character is not a saleswoman but a nurse? The patient won’t mind waiting a few minutes anyway!
Do you have to take sick leave?
The story of taking sick leave because the weather is nice and you have to work in the garden is a topic for a separate post!

Next time, moral dilemmas and professional pearls from construction and medical practices!  😉

Marijan Gjukić