Rant: Home Improvement??!!?!

Hello Fellow Consumers. I've had it up to here with Home 'Improvement'. Every freakin time I try to do a project it comes out half-assed or just downright wrong. Most recently, i.e. yesterday, I thought my brand new pool crawler, which I installed myself was defective. It was leeching to the floor, not moving half the time, and i found some plastic parts in my filter basket(s). So I take it to Leslie's to have it repaired under warranty. Turns out I f***'d up the install and forgot a plastic slip cover on the bottom which I thought was a protective covering for shipment (dumb ass). So, the money I saved by buying this thing on the inter-web where I had thought I'd found a great deal - gone. Time saved by buying on the inter-web-super-shopping-place - gone. My happiness - gone.

Am I not a man?? Do I not bleed from the repairs?? Here's a fairly thorough list of my most recent failings:

Condo, 2002
Added new faucet to tub. Failed to seal O ring properly. Flooded neighbor's ceiling. Tub faucet cost. $4.75. Repairs to neighbor's celing. $250. Nice.

Condo, 2003
After putting in a new concrete quick dry kitchen floor base, the Home Despot ass clown tells me the new tiles I bought don't need additional adhesive. Wrong!

House, 2004
Start to desire front yard curb appeal by upgrading my desert landscaping. I'll do it myself! A few days later - no, I'll hire someone. A few days later I'm looking at tools at Home Despot. The next week I decide to just hire someone. I get an estimate. I approve it and wait for them to come out and take a last look. They never show. They never call. Bastards.

House, 2004
Above pool cleaner fiasco.

Lessons learned, kids? Do you really save money? Do you in fact, save time? Or either? Would you be better off renting? The question is can you really do the DIY thing? My brother, YouTalkinToMe?, seems to have it down but then he has at least 8 years of home ownership on me. He also has a PHd. I only have an MA. I'm smart. He's smarter.

Ask yourself this - can you hack it or is it better to just pony up the cash?

UPDATE: I fixed my pool lamp! Yes!! I was tinkering around with the test button fuse thingy on my electrical section of the pool pump. I was trying to do it before and it wouldn't never stay in. Guess it just worked.

There's hope after all...