All Forum Posts by: Michael E.

 Thanks! 

Are you still going to answer my question?

 If you want to keep tabs on the project you can find it in the "investments" section of my profile. 

Hmmm... I could be wrong but I think I mentioned practice in my first post. Is "hands on expieence" different then practice?

 Hi Greg. Thanks for the reply and congratulations!

 With all due respect, YOU are the one missing the point. This is MY plan for MY situation. Just because it doesn't work for your situation, don't tell me it won't work for mine. When you asked questions I thought you really wanted to know more, so I answered those questions. It was clear to me from your first post that you didn't understand what I was doing. I thought explaining it further was what you wanted. Now I see what you really wanted, was to tell me I'm making a mistake. You have made that point.

 So, now the mistake I made is that I didn't use the right term? OK, let me try again.

What would you recommend that someone do learn how to drywall, tile and paint? Or is the answer still "don't try to learn, just go work for a contractor"?

Also, just so others are aware, a contractor's license does not allow you to do plumbing or electrical or HVAC.

Well I was not asking for advice but since people want to give it...

What would you recommend someone do if they wanted to learn some construction skills?

Based on comments in this thread, you wasted 18 years of your life. You should have given up before you even got started because you weren't an expert when you started and should have just gone into REI because you would have made more money.

I never said any of this was going to make me an expert. No, I'm not going to learn everything there is about home construction/rehab/renovations from fixing one house. And I never said that it would.

 I don't think you really read the post so here is the key sentence.

I was simply posting what I was doing, with the hope that it might inspire someone else.

I just finished the first session of the license class and wanted to share how it went.

Out of the 23 people in the (Zoom) room, I was the only one is the class not already working in the field. There were 3 other people there with the same ideal. They said they were investors and wanted to get their license so they could do more/be of more value for their business and/or act as the GC on their own projects. There were 5 or 6 people who were already running their own construction business. They wanted to get their license so they didn't need to depend on unreliable employees to pull permits. One of those people said they did over a million dollars in business last year. He wanted to get his license because he didn't want to get another fine when the "licensed contractor" on his payroll didn't do the paperwork correctly. One person said he has been a licensed real estate broker for 27 years. During the introductions it dawned on me that I was in a room with a bunch of people that do rehabs/remodeling and this would be a great chance to network. Almost everyone else had been working for a few years and wanted to strengthen their resumes by getting their license.

When my turn came I talked about why I was there and said I didn't have any experience. The instructor told me that it wouldn't be impossible but that I will need to work my butt off if I want to pass the test. Not a surprise.

The instructor described the class as being like building codes, it is the bare minimum of what "they" want to see. He went on to say that "this class is not going to make anyone an expert but if you pass, you will get your license".

I am feeling more confident about this class because I already knew some of the "off-topic" things that were discussed. To name one specifically, GFCI requirements. I learned that on YouTube and this might surprise you or it might not, but the instructor recommended watching YouTube videos as a way to learn more outside of class.

So far so good and I'm excited for the future.

Because I mentioned YouTube here is my favorite video. 

Be Phenomenal

"Now, go do something impossible." -Jason Drees