[nancyminusone]

Of course it's not hard, licences are not awarded based on how hard something is, they are supposed to be awarded for competence.

Anyone can and should be able to build their own house (I have done so myself), but if you ask for someone else to depend on your work, you had better prove it.

[quesera]

But licenses are not awarded based on competence.

They are awarded based on years of service as an apprentice and a journeyman to a master, who is effectively your pimp until you become a master yourself.

Guess who certifies master tradesmen? They guy who prefers to have you working for him instead of competing with him. It's a racket. There's some logic behind it, but less than you'd think.

Becoming fully competent to plumb or wire a house takes a few weeks of instruction. If that. It's just not difficult to become competent. It takes a bit longer to get fast though!

I would fully support a certification process that allows you to demonstrate your competence in a written and practical exam in front of experts who have no stake in your success or failure. But that is not the way it works.

(Actually, there are a few programs where you can do this for some work that would otherwise require a formal license. Lead paint remediation, of low or medium-risk surfaces, is one of them.)

[ty6853]

In AZ you can get a lot of trades licenses like finish carpenter with just a test. You can also owner/build and self certify then later flip the house which bypasses licensing and sometimes even codes.

[almosthere]

It's called passing inspections. Which you should know if you had actually built your own house.

[ty6853]

Not always required. I recently built a house, I did not get anything but septic inspected.

[quesera]

I'll guess that was in a rural area in the US West?

The further east and urban you go, the more rules you have to follow. This is, ultimately, sensible.

[ty6853]

Yes. Although there are a few urban areas without inspection. You could build in a burrow near a city in Alaska without even a permit, normally. When they finally outlaw me from building in the west maybe that will be my next stop...