"I think an experienced electrician should be able to find the cause of any residential problem within an hour."
In a perfect world maybe, non professional wiring, can be a real challange, for the best of us, buried boxes, bootleg circuits, DIY cable routing, that only superman can see, when you get one of these, pack a lunch and cancel your afternoon calls, these are usually the jobs, they call you for, about 30 to 40% of all our residential service calls are for problems with non professional work.