A friend of mine, Bob, who is about a whisper away from being a total klutz, recently rewired two add-on rooms in his house with just a little help from the clerk who sold him materials. The very knowledgeable clerk explained exactly how to install new wires and ~tri drew a simple sketch showing my friend how to conned all the circuits. The fact that Bob didn’t bum his house down or electrocute himself sold me on the proposition that today’s do-it-yourself movement has come a long way since the time I did my own plumbing work.

It seems like only yesterday that do-it-yourself owners had to learn some basic soldering skills if they intended to do their own plumbing chores. Today, unless you’re messing around with copper supply lines, basic plumbing parts are all made from plastic. You simply cut ‘em with a hacksaw and glue ‘em together. All that maze of twisted pipes under the kitchen and bathroom sinks-it’s all plastic now. The whole shootin’ match comes in a card­board box with pictures on the back. Every clerk at the do-it-yourself store is happy to explain what goes where if you get stuck or end up with parts left over.

Giant handyman stores are in fierce competition for the do- it-yourself trade. They stock acres of every building product imaginable for doing your own home im­provements-­or fixing some­thing that’s busted. The whole idea is to hook a new genera­tion on doing stuff for them­selves. Don’t get me wrong, not every job is a candidate for do-it-yourselfer investors. As a general rule, I’d be very careful with jobs that concern safety, like gas piping and electrical upgrades. These jobs normally require building permits and because of the extra liability, contractors should generally do the work.