Self-sufficiency is a great thing and can save money. Not everyone has the mechanical aptitude to save the money. But you do feal a positive sense of accomplishment when you do. Those learned skill sets and experience double at both building the project you are doing and building the personal self-esteem.
This is what I like about it, even if I am just helping do the easy things at times - the house becomes more mine, because I laid the work, not just paid the bills :)