August Newsletter Article...

Free Help is Seldom worth the Price...

By Lanny Keithley

A concept that ends up causing unnecessary troubles for many, is one of accepting offers from people, usually friends or family, to do some work or activity at a less than normal market price. You may think you have saved all sorts of money by having friends or family do things for you, like taking you someplace, going shopping, going out to eat, running errands, or maybe even cleaning your house. To have someone do these types of things for you is fine. Just keep in mind that nothing is free and be sure you know what is the real 'cost' of these acts of kindness. There is always an implied payment. Is it worth it? It is usually much better to get all such issues resolved before hand, so there will be no hard feelings later, on either side.

There are jobs or activities that must done correctly and/or on schedule. They include such necessary things as: home enhancements or repairs, car repairs, getting you somewhere on time, and whatever else you need done the right way, on time, and guaranteed.

Let me tell you a story to elaborate my point. Back some forty years ago, I was a young computer programmer for a local school district. We were one of the few school districts in the nation fully utilizing computers to manage all the daily activities of the schools. Because of all the new capabilities the computers provided to our school administrators and teachers, they wanted to try new things. Many of these new ideas required that we redesign our student attendance computer system, without the budget funds to do.

Within this progressive school district, we had large and active student 'computer clubs' in each high school, consisting of very smart future computer 'nerds'. They even had their own computer in our data center and terminals in all their classrooms. They wrote their own computer programs and were doing great student level computer things throughout the district, and had received national recognition for their work.

They came to us, through their teacher/advisors, and offered to write the new student attendance system. All of the school administrators and management thought it was a great idea and felt they did have the capability to do it. So, even though we, the professionals, had concerns about it, it was approved and we were tasked to provide all necessary guidance and structure so it would fit within our overall district wide systems.

We managed the overall design but they had full control over writing all the programs and designing all their own data files. They were a little over schedule, but we kept them under close watch and it turned out to be an impressive endeavor. The system was started and was a great success for all concerned.

Then, shortly after the students had left, changes and new requirements were needed in the new attendance system. We started looking into the details of how the programs were written and how the data was stored. If there was a more complicated way to do something, they took it. There was no way to change the system without redoing the whole thing. The concept of having to allow for changes, or even considering the possibility they might be needed, hadn't been part of their thought process or system design. When I presented our director with this news, he looked up at the folks in the meeting and said, "Well, once again, this proves that Free Help is Seldom Worth the Price."

That was the first time I had heard that saying. Since then, it has come to be proven many times for me. I cannot count the number of times I have taken a friend's offer of doing some repair or construction project which ended up costing me much more money, time, and frustration. I have come to fully respect and realize the value of what that saying really means.

People are selfish, goal striving creatures who have a reason for everything they do. Out of all the possible options they have available, at any given moment, they end up selecting one to do. This is done 'selfishly' and I am not using the term 'selfish' in a negative way at all, it is just that all choices and selections are made personally. The person's goal might not be immediately obvious, but there is an expected reward, of some type, in every offer of help given by everybody.

There is an old saying "Anything that is worth doing, is worth doing right". And, there needs to be some value or reward to them for their effort if you have any expectation that they will put in the effort to do it right. Without the specific reward and expectations being known by all up front, the opportunity for frustration and failure is high.

Usually, inherent in 'Free Help' is the lack of proper credentials, skills, materials, and/or tools necessary to do the work - compared to the 'professionals'. The lack of these skills and materials necessary to do the job correctly is usually what causes most of the failures and resulting recovery/repair costs.

Schedule is also a major consideration in certain work. Can you go without your car being fixed for a week, or go without a toilet? Choosing non-professionals to do any schedule sensitive job is a problem waiting to happen for you.

What if something doesn't go right? What if someone gets hurt on your property? What if anything that could possibility happen, does? How will these problems be resolved and who will pay for them?

Finally, the ongoing problem of supporting or guaranteeing the work must be considered. What if their labor, or some of the materials that were used, fail in the future? Will they have the resources to fix the problems without causing you a lot of additional expense and trauma?

Assume that "Free Help" doesn't even exist, except for a few very personal situations. It all works out much better for all concerned if there are no surprises on either side when the task is done.


"There is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch"