In my position at Spitfire Management, I spend a lot of time at my desk working on a computer, so I relish the opportunities to do other things away from the office. I consider myself somewhat handy. I take pride in doing a good job and doing it myself. I don’t mind getting my hands dirty and learning new skills.

This was particularly helpful when I became a home owner as even minor repairs and maintenance can really add up quickly when you bring in people to do the work for you. Case in point: within six months of purchasing our home, our washing machine—an important appliance for a family of boys!—stopped working. My wife immediately started perusing the local store circulars for a replacement, along with a dryer. (They are a matched set; we’d have to replace both, of course.) I could see her point—we weren’t really sure how old the equipment was or if it had been serviced. But I considered purchasing new a last resort; repairing it should be less expensive. And before calling in someone for a repair estimate I wanted to first see if I could do it myself.

She was skeptical. After all, the total number of washers I had repaired in my lifetime: zero. With laundry soon to pile up, I didn’t have much time to waste.

After finding the model and serial number of the washer, the user manual, owner’s forums and parts schematics were easily found on the manufacturer’s website. From other owners’ posts I soon learned that there is a switch on the unit so it knows when the lid is closed and can operate safely. Mine I found dangling and inoperable. Having searched for the part on the Internet, I found it at a local dealer for $56. My next stop was YouTube where I found two detailed videos of the task at hand. After picking up the needed part and spending a couple of hours following the videos to disassemble and reassemble the washer, it was done! Zero to hero and we were back in the laundry business with little damage to the bank account!

Likewise, we recognize that while some of our Spitfire Project Management System clients need individual personal support for every change they want to make, others have that DIY attitude toward configuring their systems. To help the DIYers, we offer a wealth of information including an online knowledgebase, an extensive user guide library, and a trove of training videos, all available 24/7.

When it comes to home maintenance, I know my limitations. Painting, yes; hanging sheetrock, no. Mowing the lawn, yes; repairing the roof, no. We are available to help our clients, even the DIYers, whenever they need some assistance. But we encourage them to learn and do on their own.