Watched my buddy finally snap when his uncle asked him to rewire a whole garage for free. He just said "My rate is sixty an hour, family discount is fifty" and handed over a card. The calls stopped pretty much that day.

Seriously? That's a feature, not a bug.

Totally saw that with my thrift store's button box.

Wait, you had clients with dead systems after a storm? That's pretty shocking since a backup is basic for any alarm setup. No wonder you changed your mind on recommending them now.

Oh man, do I ever get that feeling! Built a coffee table last fall and spent a whole weekend trying to cut the perfect dovetails by hand. My back was killing me and I had sawdust in my hair for days. It looks great, but honestly, a simple pocket hole screw build would have been done in an afternoon and looked just fine from the couch. Sometimes you just have to ask if the extra pain is worth it for something that's gonna get coffee cup rings on it anyway.