On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 12:36:26 -0600, Andy Hill
wrote:

and so we have a scarcity of skilled blue collar people. In this
area, you can wait up to 6 months for stump grinding, asphalt paving,
spot welding, masonry repair, painting, etc. More often than not,
messages requesting estimates are ignored. You gotta damn near beg
people to work for you.

As most readers here know, home repair is not rocket science-but code
and state law treats it as such. For example where I live, to become
a contractor, I would have to work as an employee of a contrator for
two years. Requirements are much worse for general contrator plumbing
and electrical. Now I can build a house a year for 3 out of the next 5
years "for my own use" and repair my own house, but doing anything
else is illegal.

Do you realize that code allows you to change a light bulb and plug
something in without getting a permit? Yep, that's it. For anything
else, you need a permit. Where I live, it took a state law to
establish that merely carring supplies to the site does not have to be
done by an electrician.

AQ