🤑💰 DIY vs BUYING NEW - Hand Truck/Dolly Project 🤑💰

Let's crunch some numbers to understand the difference between DIY vs Buying New for my Hand Truck Project.

The small tires weren't completely failing but had seen better days. So I bought replacements at Harbor Freight for $9.50 each or $19.00 total. I bought the large tires at Harbor Freight for $15.00 each or $30.00 total, and I bought connecting nuts from Ace for $.65 each or $1.30 total. I also bought pushnuts from Amazon for $5.20 because I fear the connecting nuts will fail.

So my DIY project total was $55.50. Now, let's compare to new. The only criteria I had for buying new was that it must have never-flat tires and an equal or higher level of durability & functionality. A quick look around showed costs starting at $135 and rising from there.

So my DIY savings were approximately $80. Of course, these savings don't reflect labor or the time & cost of driving back and forth to Ace and Harbor Freight. But that's part of the DIY experience, and the lessons learned will make projects like these much easier in the future.

A key component that I didn't mention in the video is disposal costs. When you purchase new, you have to get rid of the old. How do you do that when the item is too big for the garbage bin? If you have to take it to the dump, they usually have minimums; ours is $25. So that needs to be a part of your calculations. I didn't include disposal in this video because this particular item can be scrapped for metal, which doesn't cost you anything where we live.