I've always felt comfortable with carpentry and modest levels of plumbing,
but electrical work always seemed beyond my abilities. Over the past year,
I have bought books, tools, wire, wire nuts, drill bits, circuit testers,
etc. and have been rewiring parts of my 1960's era ranch house. I am amazed
at how easy it really is. I hired professionals to upgrade my main service
box and install a subpanel (and I watched what they did), but the wiring to
each room and outlet is being replaced by me and my 'hole hawg'. I have
removed the drywall from the ceiling of my basement, so the projects are
much easier. I will replace it with a drop ceiling so that I will always
have good access to the wires and plumbing.

A healthy respect for the deadly power in the wires is a good thing to keep.
Having the subpanel is great because I can remove power from the entire box
with the flick of a switch, before I do any work. That would require
removing the electric meter to do that in the main box. With each new
circuit, the last thing I do is to connect it to the power box in the
basement, so the majority of my work is quite danger-free.

Bottom line... don't be afraid to do your own electrical wiring. It is
often easy and safe and you end up with good quality, reliable circuits that
you are familiar with. Try it. After the first circuit is done, you won't
pay dearly for electical work again.

^ ^