Don’t misunderstand me, I love to find out how to do something myself so I can save money. The problem I often see is with the quality of the work done by the so called do-it-yourselfers. Lets face it, the status one achieves after four years of training and about 8000 hours of on-the-job experience should mean that that person should have some knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. The professional trades people seldom make mistakes due to lack of knowledge.I know we all have hired those trades that appear to be clueless. I believe these people  usually make mistakes because they are either lazy or have a weak work ethic and unfortunately you can’t train that out of some people . For the most part I have experienced very few problems with professional trades people. Where I see most of the problems is with do-it-yourself carpenters, plumbers or electricians.

One such problem I came across recently was with electrical wiring in a basement. The photo below shows what can happen if an untrained person tries to do something they haven’t fully grasped. In this case the receptacles worked for a while but look what happened to the wire inside the walls. I know this person no longer believes in the do it yourself plan. In this case a fire resulted in significant and costly damage. Thankfully no-one was killed as we cannot put a price on a persons life.

     Once again I see no problems with a homeowner who either has adequate knowledge to do the job or is willing to ask and learn before getting into a job. The important thing is do you know what you are doing and are you legally allowed to do the job. As I always say do-it-yourself is not an option for everyone.