Do I really need to pay someone?

Q. In Tropical Storm Irene, a tree crashed into the side of my house, and my insurance company wants an architect or engineer to make a report about the damage. I never had leaking into my basement until this happened. Do you know an architect or engineer that can do the report for free with a free estimate? The ones I’ve called won’t do it, but my contractor — I didn’t hire him yet — told me that I should be able to get architects and engineers to do this. What should I do?

A. Pay people. When I was 4, my father wanted me to learn a lesson about how you have to earn your way. He said that if I wanted something bad enough, like him, I would have to work for it (and get paid). I went down the street to where new homes were being built, gathered up triangle cut-off ends of roof rafters and, that windy March day, went up and down the street yelling, “Doorstops for sale! Penny, dime or nickel!” It was well after dark when my dad tracked me down, in his car, ready to punish me for not coming home before the street lights went on. As he put my little bike in the trunk of his car, I emptied my pockets and showed him the $4 in coins I’d earned. In 1961, a 4-year-old with $4 in his pocket was one happy little kid. My dad laughed with pride instead. Hard work paid off.

That little kid eventually grew up, got a scholarship, continued to work hard and became a licensed professional with a successful architecture firm. Each day he imagines going to work to earn a living, pay the bills, maybe even retire some day. He doesn’t think about working for nothing and wondering if he can still hold on to that $4 in pennies, dimes and nickels he once had. I don’t know people who get up and go to work with the goal of not earning a living.