Your teenage kid needs to learn to build a fence. He will be better for it.

Being the dad of four girls, I can say she needs and will appreciate the experience later. She's not just learning how to "build a fence". She will learn how to organize work, how to assemble pieces of a "complex" object and many, many other things. Plus it is a great way to deepen your relationship with her.

I always "made" my daughters help with these kind of projects that may be classified as "men's work". The older ones are in their late 20's now and I see how these experiences have helped them in their everyday life and even their careers. At 12 and 10 years old, I had the oldest two on my grandparents roof nailing shingles down with a nail gun. I started and finished each course, but they would carry the courses across. The oldest is now the lead at a roofing manufacturer for a new product line they are developing. She has a degree in architecture and has also worked for a major city in the area of code compliance/planning for permits. The second is now doing real estate appraising. She was a regional director for parts at a major equipment company in her last job. When she got that one - she called me and said "Thanks dad" for making me do those jobs - it just helped me get this job. You never know when what you do will be just what they need for their future. The more and varied experiences you can teach them will help them in the future even if it is not in the career they choose.

They are like you - "if I can do it I will instead of hiring it done". The oldest is preparing to remodel her kitchen after the holidays. I believe I prepared my daughters to be as independent as they wanted to be. It's things like "helping" dad build a fence that helped make them that way.