Many "mere amateurs" actually do professional-level repair or restoration work, but they spend so much time on the repair that they'd never make any money if they did the work for someone else. You have to be pretty efficient to be able to do work that someone else is willing to pay for. But you have to do it well enough that your reputation won't suffer. I'm sure that the person working for someone else makes compromises in order to make a living. Over the years I've become more appreciative of amateurs who do high level work just for the joy or the challenge of the work. The real advantage that the amateur has is that he doesn't have to work for pay and he can take all the time he needs to do the job right. I applaud the thread starter on the quality of his work... and I wonder how many hours he put in it.
