Well good for you on saving the money.
I am curious though on WHY that wire had no power.
And are you sure that it was a lack of power and not a bad ground or something?
If memory serves me correctly, most of the wiring junctions in the drivers rear quarter panel, ....In hindsight, I would have tried some trouble shooting there, and tracked down the underlying cause.
Worst case, it could have been a broken wire, and you most likely woul dhave had a hell of a time trying to repair it (depending on where it was) or you would have had to do what you did anyways.
Good job on the repair though.