[bityard]

> Ultimately people tend to have a fairly personal relationship with their local mechanic.

This is the money line. And it goes for all skilled trade work. Mechanics, plumbers, building contractors, roofers. Most of the people doing this work are just surprisingly bad at it, especially for how much they charge for it. It takes a LOT of time and effort to find someone good. I'd even lump doctors and dentists into this.

I don't want a marketplace to tell me who's the cheapest, I want a marketplace to tell me who's the best. And unfortunately there's no way to build that. (Why is a long story, but the short version is: because there's no way to build the correct incentives into it.)

[cafard]

> Most of the people doing this work are just surprisingly bad at it, especially for how much they charge for it.

A friend quotes a sometime co-worker of his: This is C+ world, and if you can do a solid B- you won't starve.

[bityard]

Yes, exactly! I keep telling my kids that literally just consistently showing up and doing the work you are asked to do will put you far ahead of most of your peers. I'm not sure they believe me now, but eventually they will.

[charlie0]

The law of averages. Most in any field are going to be mediocre. It's unavoidable.