Well I think we need to look at this with an open mind, I agree that it sounds like this law is not needed if it is already allowed, but to say no one can do their own work is going a little over board, just like us who do our own work on our own cars, there are many who can not afford to always hire someone to do work for us and it is part of life that we are all trying to survive in the life even as hard as it has been lately, could you imagine if were had to hire a mechanic to do simple oil changes or even a tune up, I myself do all my own work on my vehicles as I cant afford to run to a garage eveytime something goes wrong with one of my vehicles, and we have many home owners who are in the same boat, but the one thing that they don't get is the work from an experienced trades person, as they say they get what they paid for, in this case they get what they can afford, I take the same responsibility when I do my own work, but I have that choice to make when the money is not there, should we as Americans be forced to always hire someone no matter what the job is, as you can see a little law here and a little law there and soon none of us will have any rights left, mow your lawn, no because it can hurt you, drive your car, no because you can get into an accident and hurt others.
I can remember back in the days when we had to learn how to do for ourselves, we had no choice if we needed something done we had to learn how to do it or it didn't get done, I myself do not want those rights taken away, that is the freedom we expect from the country that many have died fighting to keep those very freedoms, this isn't and shouldn't be about us maybe loosing a few jobs that a person might not have been able to afford to hire us anyways to do, it is about us loosing our freedoms one law at a time.
So when I see someone who is doing their own work I do not look at it as another job I could have had that was taken away because they wanted to do it themselves, but I look at it as someone trying to survive at what ever means they need to use.
as for contractors using this to do work without a license to make money? no it shouldn't be allowed, but at the same time would it be wrong for someone to help a person to do their own work if it is not for profit? at least we could help them do it safely, I have helped many homeowner who could not afford to hire me with no problems, habitat for humanity does just that and even does the work but it is very limited to who gets helped.
here in Indiana the law covers all trades, as you can see in the post where I posted it, it does not distinguish between plumbing, HVAC, or electric.
While I understand that there will always be some who use these loop holes to skirt the requirements of the law, we can not focus on these people as there will always be cons in this world, as there will always be those who break other laws, but we can not allow loosing our freedoms just because a few wish to not do it right, we will always have homeowners who don't want to try to do things on there own, and as long as we can do a good job over and above what these other people are getting then we will always be needed.
heres another angle, when a homeowner takes the liability upon themselves and something goes wrong then they will have to bear the responsibility of the out come, this is another thing they do not receive that they would if they paid us for our services, so no they are not getting a deal, they are getting what they pay for, but it might be all they can afford.
