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A comment on 'All I wanted to do is build a house' (2010). Parent comment

Re:'All I wanted to do is build a house' (2010) by specialist on Sunday December 25, 2016 @05:53PM (#13255836)
Remodeling my own home. Found some pretty sketchy electrical, had a contractor that cut some corners. I'm grateful for modern building codes. Ignorance is bliss, but then you get a little bit of awareness, and realize how fragile everything is, and so forth.
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Re:'All I wanted to do is build a house' (2010) by tomohawk on Sunday December 25, 2016 @07:51PM (#13256294)
Where I live, all electrical work must be done by a licensed contractor. You used to be able to take a test and do it yourself, but no more.

I recently had some work done by an electrician. It was permitted and inspected. The inspector merely looked to see that it had been done by a licensed electrician. I inspected and found several problems, which he ended up fixing (he wanted to be paid, after all). I know several people in the trades who say this is very common.

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Re:'All I wanted to do is build a house' (2010) by gefh on Sunday December 25, 2016 @09:03PM (#13256496)
Where is that? do you have hardware stores that sell electrical parts? Do you need a license to buy from them? I could understand needing a license to perform work for hire but stopping people doing their own work sounds unenforceable.
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Re:'All I wanted to do is build a house' (2010) by aplummer on Monday December 26, 2016 @08:46AM (#13258199)
In Australia for example you can't do your own (unless you are an electrician). Imagine if you buy a house with faulty electric work, you can't "see" it or even reasonably check it all in a building inspection. These kinds of regulations are lifesavers.
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Re:'All I wanted to do is build a house' (2010) by webmaven on Monday December 26, 2016 @05:22AM (#13257749)
Who was the inspector working for? You may be able to file a complaint if the worked was just rubber stamped by a city inspector.
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Re:'All I wanted to do is build a house' (2010) by wyager on Sunday December 25, 2016 @07:22PM (#13256200)
It sounds like your contractor ignored the building codes as much as they could, same as just about every other budget contractor.

Building code doesn't accomplish half of what it's supposed to, but somehow manages to cost a lot more than it's supposed to.

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Re:'All I wanted to do is build a house' (2010) by cryptarch on Sunday December 25, 2016 @06:03PM (#13255874)
Did building codes exist when that electrical was laid down, and did it help?
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Re:'All I wanted to do is build a house' (2010) by Tempest1981 on Monday December 26, 2016 @12:20AM (#13257079)
Often, yes. Often work was done without a permit, or extra work is done after the inspection.
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Re:'All I wanted to do is build a house' (2010) by ocdtrekkie on Sunday December 25, 2016 @06:19PM (#13255955)
The thing is, a lot of things are done without upholding those building codes anyways. They often burden the common sense person, like the article subject, while people just trying to cheat the system will still do so.
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Re:'All I wanted to do is build a house' (2010) by Tempest1981 on Monday December 26, 2016 @12:25AM (#13257087)
True, but on the other hand, it raises the bar. If you know your work is going to be inspected, you probably do a better job. And make sure you know the building code.

A true craftsman would always do the job perfectly, but subcontractors are often unsupervised, inexperienced, and rushing from job to job.

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Re:'All I wanted to do is build a house' (2010) by specialist on Monday December 26, 2016 @11:23AM (#13258702)
For me, the building codes sets the bar. Kinda like coding standards for programming.

As a result of my remodeling misadventures, I've had to learn stuff like electrical. I bought every remodeling book. Filled with conflicting advice.

I barely know enough to know what questions to ask. Further, I don't want to know enough to form my own opinion. Instead, I have the building codes.

Installing a sink? Do it like this. Boom, done. It's been a fantastic resource.

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