Do you measure twice or cut lots?

It feels like not that long ago that Arizona and I had our deck furniture adventure, which started as a quick shopping trip, but then morphed into 'power wash the house and clean up the yard so it doesn't look shabby in comparison.' Thus, by the time we called it quits and sat on the back porch with a couple of beers, we had to laugh, because we had started the day with 'You want to clean up the yard?' and both said, 'Nahhhh. Let's do something fun instead. Like shop for deck furniture.'

But that was back in the spring, and now it's autumn-going-on-winter here in New England, which means that this past weekend it was time to reverse the process. 

The day began with those immortal words from my beloved to me: "Morning, sweetie. Want to mouse-proof the upper shed with me today?"

Ahh ... romance.

Now, we've had many a fun Home Depot date picking out colors and patterns and such. But when it comes to actually installing things, one of us has to be In Charge of a given project, while the other has to be The Helper. Otherwise, we both try to be In Charge, and we come at things from very different directions.

Case in point was yesterday. I was The Helper in the Great Mouse Eviction, which was fine by me. So I sat off in a corner and snipped sections of mesh for Arizona to staple over the gaps that had become mousey on- and off-ramps. But when it came time for me to cut the long strips that would fold along the door hinges, it went something like this:

Me (after cutting a longish strip of mesh): Can you staple this up at the top?
Arizona: Sure thing. You know it's too wide, though.
Me: Yep. I've got a plan.
Arizona (after stapling as requested): And too long.
Me: Ditto on the plan. 
(five minutes later, after I trim off the bottom and cut the long strip in half)
Me: Okay, you can do the rest of the staples, and the one for the other side is ready to go, too. (Handing him the other half.)
Arizona (surprised): It's perfect!
Me: There's more than one way to build a better mouse barrier.

You see, if he had been the one cutting the mesh, he would have made painstaking measurements, then cut it to fit perfectly the first time. Me, I tend to get things close, then trim them to fit. His tolerance is around 1/32 of an inch. Mine is "do you think a mouse can get through that gap?"

So how about you? Are you the precise, measure twice and cut once sort of person, or do you kind of whack away at things and fill in the gaps with structural caulk?