My father taught me to do wiring, and add in my std EE courses which are part of the ME degree program, and
a good bit of practical experience and I am fine with any of it. I entirely wired the cabin in Colorado, including
designing and installing the solar electric system and power inverter.
When Va decided that only licensed electricians could wire a home, even your own home, my father went down
and took the electrician's exam. And was told that he had flunked it. He knew that this was BS, and got ahold of
the top dog in the county licensing department and explained that he had been wiring houses since about 1936, and
had an engineering degree, and had studied the code information needed for the test. And he had friends on the
county commission. And he was NOT going to open a commercial electrician's shop to compete with the existing
electricians in the county. He said that if he failed the test the next time, there would be a lot of noise made, so they
really needed to think about what they were getting themselves in for. He passed no problem the second time.
Small town BS politics and licensing.
I helped him wire that house and two other buildings, plus my Colorado house,and rewiring a lot of problems in my
wife's parent's 1890s home in Fla, hleped wire my sister's basement in SC. Follow the code, and use good workmanship,
proper wire sizes for loads and such and it isn't too hard. I NEVER touch a potentialy hot wire without checking it with a
meter, either. Not interested in any 'adventures'.
And I have fixed some "damn near burned the place down" problems done by licensed, commercial electricians, too.
Bill