Needs don't get much more basic than "shelter" and in order to build a home in most of the US that means consulting electrical, plumbing, and gas codes, among o

Needs don't get much more basic than "shelter" and in order to build a home in most of the US that means consulting electrical, plumbing, and gas codes, among others. Most jurisdictions just pass legislation to adopt a particular edition of a code book developed by a national association. It gets worse. The codes are regularly changed in ways I've heard numerous experienced journeymen describe as being baffling, and it's fairly obvious that the changes happen to force everyone to buy a copy of the new edition. Lot of the trades are just rotten to the core. For example, master electricians are almost completely exempt from continuing education/examination requirements that non-master-level electricians have to endure. New code comes out, all the regulars have to pass an exam about it. But the ME? He gets to flip open his wallet and sneer, "Master-electrician-license-immunnnniiittyyyyyy!" Your average 25 year old electrician is probably far more up to speed on current standards than the 50 year old ME people are more likely to give work to because of "experience."