Recently, a long-time friend of mine decided to replace his kitchen cabinets, and learned a key lesson about core competency that I find highly relevant to what we do at Acceleware. The story started something like this: “Hey Mike, I found this great deal on some new kitchen cabinets, so I’m going to pull out my old ones and put these ones in. I figure if I work evenings I can have it done it two weekends.” Me: “Sounds cool, let me know if you need a hand” but thinking “you can’t be serious with the two weekend thing can you?” And so began the epic journey.
When the dust finally settled, literally, it took him just under three months. “Turns out I had to rip out the drywall because I damaged it pulling out the cabinets, then the insulation turned out to be moldy due to a water leak so I pulled that out, then I found out that I had lead-based solder in my pipes – replaced those too, and there was the re-wiring of the kitchen to get another circuit in there, then we figured we might as well do the tile, so it’s turned into a complete kitchen overhaul.” Sheesh! So what is the important lesson here? My friend summed it up very nicely saying “If you enjoy the challenge of teaching yourself new things, then go ahead and do it yourself, but if you want the job done, hire a professional.”
