A company only needs one certified electrican & then any yahoo untrained person can work for them
What?! You obviously have no idea what you are talking about! A company has to hire licensed electricians. They need to maintain a 1 to 1 ratio of licensed to non-licensed workers on each job. This means every licensed electrician can only supervise 1 unlicensed apprentice. Some states allow 1 licensed guy on the job and the rest can be unlicensed monkeys, Massachusetts does not. Before making ignorant statements do some research.
I spent 3 days cleaning up after the "electricians" that installed my new Service Feed & 200a panel
Pathetic job & even the Inspector did not like it after I talked to him & wen over the issues
The fact that you hired an incompetent electrician does not mean that all electricians are incompetent. You can find good and bad in any profession. A doctor who barely passed his board exam is still a doctor. Do some research and check references before hiring someone to work on your house.
I trust the work I do better then electricians
It's my house that might burn down
Another ignorant statement. Do you honestly think that the little bit of Internet reading and the wiring 1,2,3 book from Home Depot makes you more qualified than the 8000 hr apprenticeship, 600 hrs of code classes, and 12 years of experience doing electrical work everyday that I have. I mean, electrical work isn't brain surgery but, but I would put my qualifications up against yours any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
And refusing to issue permits to homeowners only makes them do it without a permit or inspection
Which is even worse
So they don't have to inspect it.....that's idiotic if they don't
I'd rather have the inspection
This part of your post I agree with, and was what I was trying to convey in my statements a year ago in this thread. I am not against homeowners doing their own electrical work. I am not anti-DIY. I am an electrician, but I do my own plumbing, carpentry, drywall, vehicle repairs, masonry, etc...
My point originally is that whether home owners can do their own electrical work in Massachusetts is a decision of each individual wiring inspector. Some allow it, some don't. My biggest issue in this thread was with the guy who said "home owners don't need to pull permits". That is BS, plain and simple. The permit and inspection process is for everyone, not just licensed contractors. I would argue that inspections are actually more important for DIY projects, because they need their work checked to make sure things were done properly.
I'm not trying to pick on you Scuba Dave but, you said "It's my house that might burn down", while that might be true right now, it is your house, what happens when you sell it in 20 years. Now it's someone else's house, and someone else's family who's lives you are putting in danger. Electrical issues are not always immediately evident. Sometimes it takes years for issues to arise. A staple banged in a little too tight, the wires arc, over years and years of arcing it gets worse and worse, the wire insulation degrades over time until finally the stud catches on fire. This could take 10, 15, 20 years to occur. Yes, AFCI breakers are now required and should prevent this issue. This is just one example of something that could go wrong, there are plenty of other problems that can arise from shoddy workmanship, improper grounding, etc...
This is a touchy subject for me as I had a similar issue last Thursday. I had a chimney fire that spread into my walls. Luckily the fire department got there quickly and the fire was contained to only 3 or 4 stud bays behind the wood stove. The issue was, when the wood stove was installed 20 years ago, by a previous home owner, the stove pipe was not connected to the chimney properly and the fire was able to get out a small space between the thimble and the chimney. I know the previous home owner, I know he did a lot of work on this house himself and I would not be surprised if most of it was unpermitted and not inspected. Because of his shoddy workmanship I could have lost my house a week before Christmas, gee thanks!
My point to this whole rant is, if you're gonna do you're own work (not just electrical, any work) please know what you are doing, pull a permit, and get it inspected. It's not just your families life and property you are putting at risk.
/rant