A while back I needed to widen a doorway that had been built undersized and prevented moving our broken-at-the-time washing machine. It took months until a carpenter was on site and could do it as a side project, since I couldn't find the precise sizes of wood to match the remaining trim.

Since then I purchased a table saw, and now being able to rip boards to arbitrary widths I look back on that project and see why the carpenter said it was easy.

All to say, eventually there's a critical mass of tools/materials that begins to make jobs faster.