Michael Coslo wrote:
Jim Lux wrote:

I don't know about that. Aside from regulatory requirements, as an
amateur one can do it however well or poorly one wishes, according to
one's own standards.

As a professional, the implication is that if you don't do a good job,
you won't get paid. Mind you, more than one person has paid another to
do a job and had a poor result. So, in the individual instances,
professional is no guarantee of quality. However, in the long run, an
incompetent professional will starve. And, if it's an activity for
which professional licensing is required (Engineer, Doctor, Lawyer,
Accountant, etc.), there's more requirements.

I pulled off my power panel in preparation to installing wiring to a new
spa. It was a rats nest of professional, inspected wiring. I rewired
the entire thing. And you can find a lot more "quality work" like this
in a lot of houses.

The sub-par professionals who do this work are more likely to lose their
jobs when the market goes south, and there just isn't any work for them
at all.

But during his employment, I have no doubt that the guy who wired my
house did it quickly and cheaply, and the quicker and cheaper made his
boss all the happier.I also have no doubt that there are hundred of
other houses he did exactly the same way. As for the person who did the
electrical inspection, I'll not speculate.

But the idea that the free market will weed out the poor actors is a
noble one but not true. The free market is looking for the cheapest, not
the best.

actually, the market looks for "good enough"..

And, in the long enough run, it does weed out the poorer actors. Of
course, in a growing market(e.g. a housing boom), there's always room
for new incompetents to enter.