I think that there is a whole skill set in learning how to do what your father was doing, and it has been one that I've worked on a lot in my life. One thing y

I think that there is a whole skill set in learning how to do what your father was doing, and it has been one that I've worked on a lot in my life. One thing you may keep in mind is that "getting fired" or "hiring another contractor" aren't, in fact, the "worst that can happen". I have been doing a certain amount of "entertainment rigging" (suspending $100K+ stacks of speakers in the air for concerts). I didn't have as great a perception of our responsibilities for the safety of other people until I started working on things that could easily kill someone if the job is done poorly. My standard went from "would I stand under that?" to "would I let my buddy's kids stand under that"? In many things there are plenty of "even worse" outcomes- your water system could have lead in it, for instance. Or the wall could blow down and kill someone. I don't say that as a criticism of your father; rather there are two motivations: a) part (perhaps most) of the skill set of being willing to try and fail is knowing when to call someone else who does "know" b) it's good to be kind with ourselves about being a little afraid when we are doing things because often we can't know what we don't know.