Why ordinary Americans are prohibited from building and renovating their own homes

[Creaky]

Hi DI!

I want to talk today about building and renovating your own homes.

In Russia, everything is simple. Bought a plot of land, ordered a house plan, or made it yourself, bought all the necessary building materials, and build (either yourself with friends and relatives, or hire Tajiks, everything within the budget).

The same goes for home renovation (any). Any Russian wife will simply drive her husband crazy if, instead of fixing any malfunction in their home himself, he suddenly calls some licensed specialist, which will damage the family budget. Russian men can do everything - from construction, finishing to performing any complex electrical or any other work. If a man does not know and cannot do something, then there will definitely be a neighbor, acquaintance, friend or relative who knows and can do it.

Those who know me from ATS remember that I am a journalist by profession. I am not an expert in building and renovating houses. One day I was away from my apartment in a multi-apartment building for about a day. When I returned to the apartment, I discovered that I had no electricity. I immediately called my electricity company and found out that I had been disconnected by mistake - my neighbor owed money for electricity, and the electrician on duty had mistakenly disconnected my circuit breaker in the common box on the landing. In 3 days, an electrician would come and reconnect me to the network.

Naturally, I could not wait 3 days (work, router, Internet, refrigerator, lighting, TV, etc.). I opened the box on the landing, common to 4 apartments, saw that the wire with neutral entering my circuit breaker was insulated with electrical tape and inserted into the terminal. I loosened the terminal, removed the electrical tape and reinserted the wire into the circuit breaker. The job took 10 minutes.

Now I want to tell the story of a good friend of mine who moved to the USA many years ago.

5 years ago Oleg moved from the glorious Ural city of Magnitogorsk to... San Francisco, the very one where "the city is full of risk and a thousand lights", although all the Russians who have lived there for a long time call it "the city of a thousand homeless people".

But that's beside the point...

Oleg is an IT specialist, he worked quite productively in our province, developed several games, he was noticed and he went to Moscow, where he worked for exactly 1 week, after which he was lured to the States. Without thinking, he sold the house in our village and went after the blue dream of any IT specialist - to Silicon Valley.

The story is traditional: he got a job, took out a mortgage on a house and prepared to work 24 hours a day, otherwise he could not pay off the mortgage before retirement.

But this is not relevant either...

The house was bought small, one might even say modest 2.5 thousand square American feet, which in our Russian meters translates as 235 sq. m. Finishing and even some furniture were available, for them it is normal when you can move in and there are even vases in the house.

However, in the first week Oleg made a big mistake, while trying to connect an electric lawn mower to the network, he overdid it with his IT efforts and broke the socket, which suddenly sparked, smoke came out and the garage was de-energized.

What does an American homeowner do in such a situation?

He calls an electrician, a licensed specialist arrives and fixes everything at the company's expense, since the electrical network is guaranteed for 1 year.

What does a normal Russian man do in such a situation?

He says (first of all to himself):

- No problem, can't I connect two wires?

After that, the Russian guy goes to an American store, buys a circuit breaker, a socket, and personal protective equipment for $11. He comes home and, in front of his stunned neighbors, climbs with his own hands into the place where there should be 110 weak American volts, and not our powerful 220.

Do you know what the American neighbors do at this time?

That's right! They knock on the police. They arrive immediately and after the owner of the house says:

- There's nothing to worry about, the socket shorted out and the circuit breaker went down... I've already fixed everything

The owner is fined $2,000 from the state, $350 from the municipality, and $250 from the district office.

Plus, there was an increase in insurance by $110 per month and a warning from the bank that the next time someone temporarily residing in the house makes unauthorized repairs to his property, he will fly out at the speed of a bullet towards the flophouse.

Unauthorized repair of an outlet cost Oleg almost $3,000.

So it turns out that an ordinary American can't do anything in his own home? Just call a licensed specialist and fork out your hard-earned dollars? And is it even possible to talk about independent construction?

Yes, you can!

It turns out that you can even build a house with your own hands!

Only you first have to go to the municipality and buy a license to perform specific construction work, pay money and... listen to the safety rules for this work, which an experienced specialist will conduct with you. In addition, you must buy protective equipment and provide a receipt for its purchase at the first request: a fire extinguisher, gloves, a suit, boots, a vest, insurance, gloves and even a first aid kit.

Why all this?

Why such a rip-off?

Why such complications?

Is it really impossible to do it like in Russia: your home - your rules and do what you want?

So in which country is there more freedom for ordinary free people who want to build their own home with their own hands and repair it themselves?

Lots of questions. Answer them to me, a Russian, please.

Thank you.

I do miss the old Russian troll
What a patronising arrogant nasty hit piece
I don’t dislike Russia or Russians but after reading this poorly written and ignorant story, makes me lose a lot of respect
In am Australian, we have a similar system here in Australia to the US, it works, works well, so well in fact it doesn’t take our electrical company 3 DAYS, to connect us back up. 

As for the rest of your argument, sorry you can’t see how poorly formed it is 
And I don’t as a general rule touch electricity

The legacy of Stalin, took a long time for Russia to become more than a developing country

[UltraBudgie]

Hmm anyone feel like translating this 124 page document?

Register of descriptions of procedures included in the exhaustive list of procedures in the sphere of housing construction, approved by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of April 30, 2014, N 403

https://minstroyrf.gov.ru/upload/iblock/...2015_.docx

[CCoburn]

I don't know your story. I base it on the stories of Russians who moved to America. If you are doing well, I am happy for you. Answer the question: can you breed domestic animals (chickens, geese, pigs, etc.), vegetables, fruits (apples, pears, etc.) and sell these products freely wherever you want?
Thank you.

In Maine there's a big difference between your typical city setting and that of rural farmland type areas with the latter being the majority. I live in the city, but I can drive ten minutes in any direction where the scenery adorns a transition to glorious and spacious fields of green. I see mostly flatland areas with rolled up bales of hay scattered about. I see a lot of cows and horses. I see apple orchards and corn fields. I always have to be wary of fowl afoot while I freight-line along my way as I desire driving and departing the city almost daily.

I don't know about rules and regulations for the state as a whole, but in the above areas there are many farmstands or other similar outlets on-site in which passers-by can make purchases. These farmers will even come to the city and setup on the side of major routes and many other main streets to sell their goods e.g. strawberries are common.

And when I go to my independent mechanic a couple towns over there's always roosters and hens runnin' around while I'm waitin' on my ride to be repaired. I don't imagine I'd be able to entertain such a scenario here in the city though as it would surely serve as sin in some codebook.

[sahgwa]

Hi DI!

I want to talk today about building and renovating your own homes.

In Russia, everything is simple. Bought a plot of land, ordered a house plan, or made it yourself, bought all the necessary building materials, and build (either yourself with friends and relatives, or hire Tajiks, everything within the budget).

The same goes for home renovation (any). Any Russian wife will simply drive her husband crazy if, instead of fixing any malfunction in their home himself, he suddenly calls some licensed specialist, which will damage the family budget. Russian men can do everything - from construction, finishing to performing any complex electrical or any other work. If a man does not know and cannot do something, then there will definitely be a neighbor, acquaintance, friend or relative who knows and can do it.

Those who know me from ATS remember that I am a journalist by profession. I am not an expert in building and renovating houses. One day I was away from my apartment in a multi-apartment building for about a day. When I returned to the apartment, I discovered that I had no electricity. I immediately called my electricity company and found out that I had been disconnected by mistake - my neighbor owed money for electricity, and the electrician on duty had mistakenly disconnected my circuit breaker in the common box on the landing. In 3 days, an electrician would come and reconnect me to the network.

Naturally, I could not wait 3 days (work, router, Internet, refrigerator, lighting, TV, etc.). I opened the box on the landing, common to 4 apartments, saw that the wire with neutral entering my circuit breaker was insulated with electrical tape and inserted into the terminal. I loosened the terminal, removed the electrical tape and reinserted the wire into the circuit breaker. The job took 10 minutes.

Now I want to tell the story of a good friend of mine who moved to the USA many years ago.

5 years ago Oleg moved from the glorious Ural city of Magnitogorsk to... San Francisco, the very one where "the city is full of risk and a thousand lights", although all the Russians who have lived there for a long time call it "the city of a thousand homeless people".

But that's beside the point...

Oleg is an IT specialist, he worked quite productively in our province, developed several games, he was noticed and he went to Moscow, where he worked for exactly 1 week, after which he was lured to the States. Without thinking, he sold the house in our village and went after the blue dream of any IT specialist - to Silicon Valley.

The story is traditional: he got a job, took out a mortgage on a house and prepared to work 24 hours a day, otherwise he could not pay off the mortgage before retirement.

But this is not relevant either...

The house was bought small, one might even say modest 2.5 thousand square American feet, which in our Russian meters translates as 235 sq. m. Finishing and even some furniture were available, for them it is normal when you can move in and there are even vases in the house.

However, in the first week Oleg made a big mistake, while trying to connect an electric lawn mower to the network, he overdid it with his IT efforts and broke the socket, which suddenly sparked, smoke came out and the garage was de-energized.

What does an American homeowner do in such a situation?

He calls an electrician, a licensed specialist arrives and fixes everything at the company's expense, since the electrical network is guaranteed for 1 year.

What does a normal Russian man do in such a situation?

He says (first of all to himself):

- No problem, can't I connect two wires?

After that, the Russian guy goes to an American store, buys a circuit breaker, a socket, and personal protective equipment for $11. He comes home and, in front of his stunned neighbors, climbs with his own hands into the place where there should be 110 weak American volts, and not our powerful 220.

Do you know what the American neighbors do at this time?

That's right! They knock on the police. They arrive immediately and after the owner of the house says:

- There's nothing to worry about, the socket shorted out and the circuit breaker went down... I've already fixed everything

The owner is fined $2,000 from the state, $350 from the municipality, and $250 from the district office.

Plus, there was an increase in insurance by $110 per month and a warning from the bank that the next time someone temporarily residing in the house makes unauthorized repairs to his property, he will fly out at the speed of a bullet towards the flophouse.

Unauthorized repair of an outlet cost Oleg almost $3,000.

So it turns out that an ordinary American can't do anything in his own home? Just call a licensed specialist and fork out your hard-earned dollars? And is it even possible to talk about independent construction?

Yes, you can!

It turns out that you can even build a house with your own hands!

Only you first have to go to the municipality and buy a license to perform specific construction work, pay money and... listen to the safety rules for this work, which an experienced specialist will conduct with you. In addition, you must buy protective equipment and provide a receipt for its purchase at the first request: a fire extinguisher, gloves, a suit, boots, a vest, insurance, gloves and even a first aid kit.

Why all this?

Why such a rip-off?

Why such complications?

Is it really impossible to do it like in Russia: your home - your rules and do what you want?

So in which country is there more freedom for ordinary free people who want to build their own home with their own hands and repair it themselves?

Lots of questions. Answer them to me, a Russian, please.

Thank you.

Hi RT

This is truly beneath your standards of past behaviour.
You are an intelligent individual whose psyche in the last few years seems to have been 'captured' by the miasma of propaganda that surrounds the average person at this time in history. 
Neither Russia nor the USA are any better, intrinsically than each other.  They merely have different cultural skins, and various focusses 'they' 'choose' to pursue.   They both are restrictive of freedoms in various ways.

The main issue I have with your screed, is that it is neither based on legal statutes , which you make a poor allusion to in the end (as if to save yourself) without details, nor based on any experience you had with doing real renovation work.  You literally stuck a piece of tape in a box that you most likely had no business opening up.   You could have shorted the circuit in the whole building and ruined things for your neighbours.  If you call slip-shod jerry-rigging of loose wires, 'renovation' then I fear for safety standards. 

Your post is a vague 'I said , he said' story with no true basis of comparison in dealing with 'the State' and no real renovations. It is two grown men experimenting with live wires, irresponsibly. 

'I had a friend who lived in Russia once, he said it was terrible because the country folk were still pooping in outhouses and didn't even have toilet paper, and their homes were not insulated properly against the cold. What a poor backwards country Russia is.  I really feel for them.  Meanwhile in America I have a flush toilet and all the TP I could use. Is this your experience of Russia too, friends? '

You see how that works? It's useless.