[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.