I need some help. I don't generally have much tact, so I feel it's something that's going to end in a massive argument some day soon.
Husband spent 2 days on a small DIY fix (gaps in laminate due to some house renovations). It required: cutting 3 different parts of woods and fixing them together with screw/nails, time 2 sides. Probably an hour job for a professional. I would expect a few hours for someone less skilled.
I'm clueless in DIY, so I would have paid someone to do it. But he wanted to do it himself, because it was "a simple job", his words.
He spent most of 2 days. Mainly because yes, he knows how to cut wood, but he doesn't plan properly and has actually no idea what he's doing.
He knows the theory, so he thinks he knows. But every time when he actually gets to it, he's missing parts, hasn't thought about this or that, something is wrong with the measurements...
For this project, which he had 4 weeks to plan for: he realised half way through that one of the piece of wood he had bought was the wrong height and thickness, so had to make some additional cuts to try to get them to fit. He was also missing 2 tools which he has to order overnight, and hadn't actually thought about how he was going to fix the pieces together so had to to go buy more stuff for it.
The result is objectively shit. It does the job in terms of fixing the problem - the gaps are gone - but everything is wonky, wrong size, etc. he said himself that it would have to be redone properly... So really what was the point?!
On top of the time it took on our family weekend (we have 3 under 5s), he was grumpy and complained every time something went wrong.
Now, this is frustrating, but it's not the real issue. My problem is that he wants to take on much bigger projects in the house, like building wardrobes or shelves. And I don't want him to. I would be waiting for years for it to happen, he wouldn't plan for it properly, the house would be a mess for weeks, and the result would be crap.
We don't have the budget right now, but I want to save and get it done by a professional carpenter.
How do I approach this conversation? I don't want to be mean to him, he means well and generally enjoys this as a hobby.
I actually have nothing against him doing small jobs, even if it drives me bonkers watching him. I know that's the only way he'll learn and get better at it.
But he's not building wardrobes or shelving, which he also refers to it as "simple jobs". I think it's better that I bring it up myself in a positive way. So far I've just deflected every time he mentioned it, so I think deep down he knows I'm not keen.