Home Maintenance Pathways: trades routes and standards

01

The trades map: who does what in a home

In simple words

A house is like a body, and the trades are like different doctors. A painter is like a skin-care helper, but the electrician is like a heart surgeon: you would never let someone without the right training do that job. Knowing who does what keeps everyone safe.

Before this course: Renovation Planning: scope, permits and hiring (course 12.3.3). Earlier you learned basic repairs (course 12.3) and larger projects such as tiling and drywall patching (course 12.3.2). You can already write a scope of work, budget with a contingency, ask about permits, compare bids, read a contract and close out a job. This course goes one level higher: understanding the trades themselves, how people qualify, the standards they work to, and how to lead, teach and review others safely.

Key facts

The main trades and professionals in a home (names and rules differ by country):

Trade or professional	Typical home work	Where the risk is	Licensed or qualified person needed?
Electrician	Wiring, circuits, panels, outlets, switches	Shock, fire, hidden faults	Yes, in most places (Lesson 4)
Plumber	Supply pipes, drains, vents, fixtures	Leaks, sewer gas, water damage	Often, for changes to pipes and drains
Gas technician or gas fitter	Gas lines, stoves, furnaces, water heaters	Fire, explosion, carbon monoxide	Yes
Heating and cooling technician	Furnaces, boilers, air conditioners, heat pumps	Gas, electricity, refrigerants	Often
Carpenter or framer	Framing, stairs, doors, trim, cabinets	Structure, falls, power tools	For structural work, with drawings and a permit
Roofer	Roof covering, flashing, gutters	Falls from height	Often a registered contractor
Mason, tiler, drywall finisher, painter	Brick, tile, walls, finishes	Dust, cuts, ladders	Usually not, for simple finishes
Engineer or qualified designer	Structural drawings, load calculations	The whole building	Yes, for structural changes
Hazardous-materials specialist	Testing and removing asbestos, lead paint	Dangerous dust	Yes
General contractor	Runs the whole job and the trades	Coordination, permits, payments	Often licensed or registered

Scope of practice: a licence covers one trade. A licensed plumber is not automatically allowed to do electrical work, and a general contractor usually hires licensed trades for licensed work.
The traffic light (course 12.3.2) still applies: green (a careful owner can do it), yellow (ask about a permit), red (licensed or qualified professional). At this level you can explain why each red job is red.
Why the line exists: licensed work is the work where a mistake can kill or injure someone, often months later and behind a wall. The licence is the public's way of making sure the person has the training and is accountable.

Step by step

Walk through a home and list every system: power, water supply, drains, gas, heating and cooling, roof, structure, finishes.
For each system, write which trade or professional works on it, using the table above.
Colour each system green, yellow or red for the most common job on it.
Next to every red item, write the reason in one line (shock, fire, gas, collapse, dangerous dust).
Mark which systems have a shut-off and where it is (course 12.3).
Check: you can stand in any room and name the trade for every system you can see.

LESSON 01The trades map: who does what in a home

LESSON 01 / ANIMATED LESSON / AI VOICE00:00 / 01:00

Voice

Read the video script

[Screen: cut-away drawing of a house with wires, pipes and ducts] "A house has many systems, and each one has its own trade."
[Text on screen: Electrician. Plumber. Gas technician. Carpenter. Roofer.] "Electricians, plumbers, gas technicians, carpenters, roofers. Each has its own skills and its own risks."
[Screen: a painter, then an electrician at a panel] "Some jobs a careful owner can do. Others need a licence, because a mistake can kill."
[Text on screen: One licence, one trade] "And a licence covers one trade, not all of them."
[Host] "Know the map, and you'll always know who to call."

Try it now

Make a "trades map" for your own home: every system, the trade that works on it, its traffic-light colour and the reason for every red item.

ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude

Copy this, open Claude, paste it, and Claude will walk you through the lesson step by step.

For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.

I'm learning "Home Maintenance Pathways: trades routes and standards" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "The trades map: who does what in a home".

What the lesson teaches:
- The main trades and professionals in a home (names and rules differ by country):
- Trade or professional - Typical home work - Where the risk is - Licensed or qualified person needed?
- Electrician - Wiring, circuits, panels, outlets, switches - Shock, fire, hidden faults - Yes, in most places (Lesson 4)
- Plumber - Supply pipes, drains, vents, fixtures - Leaks, sewer gas, water damage - Often, for changes to pipes and drains
- Gas technician or gas fitter - Gas lines, stoves, furnaces, water heaters - Fire, explosion, carbon monoxide - Yes
- Heating and cooling technician - Furnaces, boilers, air conditioners, heat pumps - Gas, electricity, refrigerants - Often
- Carpenter or framer - Framing, stairs, doors, trim, cabinets - Structure, falls, power tools - For structural work, with drawings and a permit

The exercise I'm working on:
Make a "trades map" for your own home: every system, the trade that works on it, its traffic-light colour and the reason for every red item. ---

I'm stuck. Please:
1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example.
2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step.
3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.

I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "The trades map: who does what in a home" from the course "Home Maintenance Pathways: trades routes and standards".

Here's what the lesson says:
A house is like a body, and the trades are like different doctors. A painter is like a skin-care helper, but the electrician is like a heart surgeon: you would never let someone without the right training do that job. Knowing who does what keeps everyone safe.

The activity:
Make a "trades map" for your own home: every system, the trade that works on it, its traffic-light colour and the reason for every red item. ---

Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words.
Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.

Open Claude

My notes

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