Deciding whether to hire help or do it personally

The situation

They were faced with a project that required a decision on whether to hire a contractor or do the work personally, but lacked specific details about the project, budget, deadline, and required skills. This made it difficult to make a blanket decision. They needed a way to make a concrete choice once the facts existed. The lack of information about the project and existing skills made it hard to choose between hiring a contractor and doing it personally.

What they weighed

• Hire a contractor

• Do it myself

• Use a threshold to decide

What they decided

Set a short time cap and get one fixed-scope contractor quote; hire only if specialist risk or the time saved justifies the quote

Why

They chose to set a short time cap and get a fixed-scope contractor quote because it allowed them to make a concrete decision once the project details were known. This approach helped them weigh the pros and cons of hiring a contractor versus doing the work personally. By comparing the estimated time and cost of doing the work personally with the contractor's quote, they could make an informed decision.

The first step

Define the project and its deadline, then obtain a fixed-scope quote and estimate the time required

How they would know it worked

The success of the chosen approach will be measured by whether it meets the project's acceptance criteria within the chosen time and cost limits

How it turned out

Not known yet. The result is added here when it comes in.