Going to school to learn how to do it all myself. Realistic?

[Jessica James]

After a pipe broke in the attic of my two story multi-home, I faced a lot of issues with my general contractor and plumber in particular. Leaks still prevalent in pipes and refusing to fix them, contractors worker and his family squatting in my home without my permission, and lazy work done to finishes of the home. It was a nightmare to say the least and I had to figure out a lot of stuff to fix the problems myself.

I like to think of myself as someone who isn't afraid of getting down and dirty and doing the hard work. Someone who wants to know everything I can about the things I love, including real estate and home the  systems in a home work. As a new Realtor and someone who plans to buy and house hack many more multi-units in the future, I'm thinking about instead of using my GI Bill for a Masters, perhaps getting certified in multiple trades to further my education on electricity, plumbing, HVAC, and building. Even if I'm not the one who originally has to build a home from the ground up, I want to know the basics of how to do things myself or at least know enough to check and make sure things are done correctly. 

Any thoughts or suggestions from anyone who feels like they have a great amount of knowledge about what goes into a home and any licensing they suggest is the most important? Or how to go about getting certified? Personal experiences dealing or feeling similar to me after a bad experience with several "professionals"?

[Bruce Woodruff]

I admire your spunk, but taking a bunch of classes is virtually worthless in the construction trades. You need to be shown the right way(s) to do things and then do them over and over and over. And there are too many parts of too many trades, no one can learn them all.

Way smarter for you to just wait and put together a good stable of contractors that are good and reliable and that you can trust. At the same time, take little side projects on yourself (tile a bathroom/install cabinets/frame a new partition wall) and learn from doing. Eventually you can be a 'jack of all trades - master of none' like the rest of us....'