At 12:42 PM 1/22/95 -0500, John Young wrote:

... Both fear that they do not know the code well enough to take the risk of being found at fault by random municipal inspections of construction. A-E's dread the liability and blame by owners for well-known construction corner-cutting, and owners suspect their professionals competency and ethics -- afraid that the pros will certify in ignorance or cupidity and that the owners will face costly corrections without having the traditional scapegoat of over-weening government to justify cheating in the field.

A classic example of people being unwilling to accept responsibility for the outcome of their own actions. That said, building inspection serve much the same function as code reviews, and are a "good thing" for exactly the same reason. I suspect that the A-E's will lobby for liability exemptions, and if they fail to get them, they will wind up going to private building inspectors/"code consultants" just like in-house accountants bring in outside auditors. --Paul J. Ste. Marie pstemari@well.sf.ca.us, pstemari@erinet.com