I would add a location in the game where you could take a schematic and the materials to have it done. That way, you could pay to have things done if you don't have the skill to do them yourself.
You can already have that done, The techmanuals you buy in tarant are heavy so they are deigned that you can only use them at a predetermined place, the university campus and all you need are the items, the schematics and enough manuals of course it costs a small fortune
It would be nice to, also, be able to "disassemble" the things you build. If you have the schematic, then you could "disassemble" things, like a pyro ax, and get the parts that made it a pyro ax back. Also, maybe there could be a skill called "duplicate" that would allow you to duplicate parts if you had a "bag of parts" in your inventory.
I don't consider it a good idea. After all you strongly modified what you had to get given object assembled. Perhaps it should be allowable with some simpler items (like flintlock pistol) in more mechanical disciplines. In a discipline like herbology you shouldn't expect it to work. Also in a discipline like smithy you it would work out to a very limited extent. For example you couldn't dissasamble pure ore. There should be also penalty included (so that you wouldn't get "fresh" ingredients. For example you dismount Pyro Axe. You should get: - oak handle with slightly lowered durability - pyro axe blade (you shouldn't really expect to get featherwight axe blade since you modified it so much) Anyway I don't see much use for such a feature to back introduction. What would be the aim for disassembling things?
When you spend those big $$$ for parts for a soundingly cool gun, and then get a piece of junk that is worthless, and you want your old gun back, or the parts for something else. Once, I had my trusty Testla Rod, and was happy, but then made a Testla Gun out of it (it looked pretty cool), but it took 4 batteries, and it usually missed, so I go looking for another staff to make a normal rod, and alas! I cannot find a non-magickal staff in all of Arcanum! What a waste! The duplicating skill would be usefull for those hard-to-find parts.
Oh.... But, regardless, it would be nice to duplicate some hard-to-find parts, like that unknown chemical compound, ancient chassis, etc.
Duplication idea is good. Perhaps with usage of certain chemicals and metals you could make some dwarven ore out of pure ore. I would also like to see somehting like system shock 2 research. You find a totally unknown object and, if you're good enough and have proper equipment, with time you can determine what it's useful for.