... Souh Florida with some of the trades starting up without any proper training and asking/expecting scale.

Most of the incorporated villages do require the trades to at least register with them while spot checking with the BBB.

With the exception of the trades that pull in from out of state (well-trained), there's a lot of the home-grown down here that think if they're on the job for three months that they know it all.

When I built my house in 1980, I decided to run my hot and cold overhead with most of my drops having easy access should there ever be any problem... but not knowing the problems we had down here with mineral deposits on copper; I had no less than 12 leaks thru the years with the last one being the worse due to faulty plumbing (workmanship) which entailed over $12,000 in damage. When I pointed out the work to the insurance adjuster, he said that he has never seen anything like this last repair in all the years he's been in the field.

Anyway, I decided to replace all my copper with PEX... and with my drops where they, the job was quite easy. It's been about four years now and I haven't had any problems; though I do crawl around to inspect for leaks every six months or so.

About Joe, though... If he had only played it right, he could have been set for life, especially if the right supply house jumped in and carried him statewide as Joe The Plumber, but now I doubt anyone would want to cover him.....

BTW, the insurance company did go after the plumbing contractor...

JB