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Comment by tjoff | Hacker News Reader

Add to that is that it is likely illegal to do yourself. Which of course has implications for insurance etc.

In the US, it’s fully legal to perform electric/plumbing/whatever work on your own home.

If you screw it up and need to file a claim, insurance can’t deny the claim based solely on the fact that you performed the work yourself, even if you’re not a certified electrician/plumber/whatever.

What you don't want to do is have an unlicensed friend work on your home, and vice versa. There are no legal protections, and the insurance companies absolutely will go after you/your friend for damages.

Edit: sorry this applies to owned property, not if you’re renting

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

As with most regulations in the "US" I have a feeling the answer is really something like "Depending on the city and state you live in the answer lies somewhere between 'go nuts' and 'that could lead to criminal charges and you being liable for everything that happens to the house and your neighbors kitchen sink'".

It's like that in Australia, liability and insurance hinge on licenced work by trade qualified professionals.

What is common here, in the handy crowd at least, is to do your own electrical, plumbing, gas work and leave it open and accessable for a licenced professional to check and sign off on.

You're still paying for an hour or two of their time and a surcharge for "taking on the responsibility" but it's often not an issue if the work is clean, to current code, and sanity tests correct (correct wiring, correct angles on plumbing, pressure testing on gas pipes).

It‘s hardly an extraordinary claim. Just because you can’t install a ceiling fan doesn’t mean it‘s an “extraordinary” feat that is “likely illegal”.

> insurance can’t deny the claim based solely on the fact that you performed the work yourself

_This_ is the claim that is extraordinary. I'm not saying that the government would bust down my door for doing work on my own home, but rather that the insurance company would then view that work as uninsured.

The entire business model of insurance agencies is to find new, creative, and unexpected ways to deny claims. That is how they make their money. To claim that they would accept liability for a property that's had uninspected work done by an unlicensed, untrained, unregistered individual is just that - extraordinary.

In my jurisdiction I can certainly do the work but am under the same requirements to pull a permit and pass a provincial inspection. It very quickly becomes the most effective to have an electrician involved, maybe not for all the work but some of it. They're more that willing to review the work you do and talk about it. Think of it as pair coding - great opportunity to learn and they'll tell you when you've done a good job. (at least the ones I've found)

Depends on the state and municipality. Mine doesn't allow homeowners to pull electrical permits.

Around here, the bar is lower for work on your own property, but you still need to be qualified by the county to be allowed to do so. Qualification consists of a 2 hour open book exam, where the book is a copy of the national electrical codes.

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DPS/Process/combuild/home...

Granted, if you actually do unlicensed work in your house, no one will know. But it is still illegal.

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