The problem with a lot of trades people is that they think they need to work for other people. I think anyone in a trade should be working on the side and charging what they're worth. I'm a programmer and I typically do my own work around the house. Just recently, I redid my plumbing so that it'd look nice aesthetically and function a bit better. My problem is that most tradesman I come across will sell themselves short but not offer to do the best jobs. For example, I had someone redo the waste water drain because of how he said the job needed to be done. At the end, he messed up and sorta did a safe but half ass job that I could have done. If I had known he'd do such shotty work, I'd just have paid double and gotten someone to add iron pipes.