That's ridiculous. Washers and dryers are expensive appliances.
Unless this guy is paid more than a half million per year, then the four hours spent on the install here are less than the cost of a new washer and dryer.
Starting with something that you know works can be a time saver, even if it requires a bit of hackery. The alternative is buying new, which for appliances often means buying into some kind of consumer-hostile scheme that the old models weren't subject to.
This just seems like nothing less than purposeful absurdity for blog fodder.