If You Want Something Done Right, You've Got To Do It Yourself

I'm sure you've all heard this one, and I'm sure you know what it means.  What you might need to know, however, is that if you're going to do it yourself, make sure you're capable first.

A few years ago, my father owned a house he was leasing out, and he noticed that the wiring was rather old (at least 40 years).  To him, this meant the house had a fire hazard, and should be fixed as soon as possible.  My mother wanted it done professionally, so my father checked several local contractors, and got estimates from them.  Their prices were so high that he picked up a few more gray hairs, and told my mother that he would do it himself, rather than pay so much.  The job took him 4 weekends, and he felt certain that he had done the best job possible.

Unfortunately, renting houses in this area requires an inspection before renting, whenever major work is done.  The city inspector was in the house for two hours, then he brought Dad inside and told him that he had done everything wrong. 

"If you live outside the city, as you do, doing electrical work can be done yourself, because there are few laws on how it should be done.  However, when you're dealing with a house that's in the city, you have to do the job as stated by law, and no one is allowed to do otherwise."

He then told my father that he'd have to rip out all the work he'd done, and then hire a contractor to do the work right, as the contractors were kept completely up to date on local building codes.  He also showed my father a book containing all the local laws (it was almost 10 inches thick, and the paper was very thin).  Needless to say, my father went with a contractor to do the work.

Doing it yourself has always been a treasured right for many people in this country.  It will likely remain so, but we must always check to see that what we do, we do correctly.

Quod erat demonstrandum.