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In the US, the regulations often do little to protect construction clients, particularly individual homeowners. When contractors fail to observe the code, what

by jarrett 14y ago

In the US, the regulations often do little to protect construction clients, particularly individual homeowners. When contractors fail to observe the code, what recourse does the client have? Most often, the only thing available would be a lawsuit. Lawsuits are always expensive. This is especially true when they hinge on a technical question such as: "Did the defendant observe [insert building code citation] while installing the pipes that are now buried under a slab of concrete?" The costs make suing rather unattractive, particularly because here in the US, the loser does not pay the winner's litigation expenses.

dhimes 14y ago
I agree that savvy rogue contractors can skirt the law and build crappy, unsafe stuff (like came to light in Miami FL after hurricane....Hugo, I think...). But what regulations do well is make sure the honest guys know how to be safe. Whether they go to their conferences and learn best practices is optional, and they have to decide if they want to bear the expense. If they ignorantly (not maliciously) wire the bathroom in an unsafe manner, however, they will fail inspection and be made to fix it properly. This is useful to the individual homeowners. In a way it's similar to the adage that "locks keep the honest people from breaking in." With both regulations and locks, they are less likely to stop the criminals.
ifthen 14y ago
Several states have consumer protection boards set up for just this sort of thing. I know because I filed a complaint in CT against a contractor who did faulty work. My complaint along with a few others were compiled, leading to a hearing where his license was revoked. Additionally, the state had a fund set aside for people who lose money on shoddy work (up to 15K). We were one of the lucky ones, as he only cost us $3K (which we got back). Others lost 10-20K. Bringing it around to the topic at hand, a code inspector for 'code' is an interesting idea. That said, I'm okay with devs/agencies being held accountable for their coding work -- as long as clients are likewise held accountable for paying on time, proper briefs, etc.

by jarrett 14y ago

dhimes 14y ago

I agree that savvy rogue contractors can skirt the law and build crappy, unsafe stuff (like came to light in Miami FL after hurricane....Hugo, I think...). But what regulations do well is make sure the honest guys know how to be safe. Whether they go to their conferences and learn best practices is optional, and they have to decide if they want to bear the expense. If they ignorantly (not maliciously) wire the bathroom in an unsafe manner, however, they will fail inspection and be made to fix it properly. This is useful to the individual homeowners. In a way it's similar to the adage that "locks keep the honest people from breaking in." With both regulations and locks, they are less likely to stop the criminals.

ifthen 14y ago

Several states have consumer protection boards set up for just this sort of thing. I know because I filed a complaint in CT against a contractor who did faulty work. My complaint along with a few others were compiled, leading to a hearing where his license was revoked. Additionally, the state had a fund set aside for people who lose money on shoddy work (up to 15K). We were one of the lucky ones, as he only cost us $3K (which we got back). Others lost 10-20K. Bringing it around to the topic at hand, a code inspector for 'code' is an interesting idea. That said, I'm okay with devs/agencies being held accountable for their coding work -- as long as clients are likewise held accountable for paying on time, proper briefs, etc.