Working building houses began when I was 8 or 10 years old on weekends and summers

 My father was an electrical contractor so I started to learn the electrical trade even before he became a contractor just like my grandfather and uncle and other uncle when he was alive all were trained electricians in building houses and repairing electrical work or updating electrical work everywhere they lived (which was Seattle for my grandfather and uncle) and Los Angeles and San Diego counties for my father and I (even though I never did electrical work in San Diego County) because mostly I was going to college in San Diego County from about 1970 to 1973 and then my wife and baby and I moved away from there to Mt. Shasta in 1976 and then to Hawaii to Hilo Hawaii on the Big Island later that year too with my new born son. 

So, I started building my father's retirement home on weekends with him and Mom around 1968. So, when I had time from other jobs or college I would come out and help my father build his retirement home on weekends while he was still working during the week at Electrical Work. By 1969 my father had moved to San Diego County and so was working on the Encina Power plant on the coast helping build it most of the 1970s until he retired in 1980 from doing electrical work to his land we had built a home on between 1968 and 1980 between Yucca Valley and Landers in the high Desert there.

So, when I bought land in 1980 my father was retired so he helped me build my A-Frame house on 2 1/2 acres in the forests of Mt. Shasta at 4000 feet elevation. 

We build an A-Frame because your roof wouldn't collapse in the 7 feet or more snow that could fall then in the Mt. Shasta area then. Though it can snow 12 feet or more that has only happened at 4000 feet in 1992 and a couple of years ago a friend who had land out near us had 12 feet of snow on his land until June or July a couple of years ago just before he died about a year and a half ago now.

So, building homes from carpentry and Electrical work and some plumbing and also masonry to some degree I learned between the age of 8 or 10 years old until I was about 30 to 32 when I was still learning more about all this. In the late 1970s I got a Landscaping Contractor's license and worked in La Jolla and Rancho Santa Fe then where there was a lot of money to be made then.

So, learning to build things can help you survive all sorts of things in life. And if you want to live out in the country being able to build things is very helpful especially if you buy land and want to build yourself a house like I did and my father did in Yucca Valley as well as Mt. Shasta.