My folks bought a two-flat in Chicago just before I was born. Mom & Dad remodeled it, including drywall, plumbing, and electrical. Neither were in the trades, BTW.
Same inspection process as a GC.
One of my first memories was "helping Dad", and reaching into a wall cavity through a 2" x 3" opening to grab the piece of Greenfield my dad was fishing.
As I grew older, Dad taught me more about electrical and plumbing. Mostly basic maintenance type stuff.
In HS, was involved in lighting for stage crew. Did some handyman work for the college I attended as "work-study".
Bought my house and re-ran the internals. My boss at the FD found out I "knew electric", and asked me to wire his garage. Bought one of the "electric wiring" books based on the Code. Eventually bought the Code & Handbook (yay handbook!).
Got a few jobs as a call-in guy for some EC's before taking a correspondence class, and working for one EC regularly enough to challenge the exam.
