What's Good Enough?
At one point in history, I think it was
in medieval times, it was considered
possible for a learned person to be
capable of absorbing all that there was
of written knowledge. Today, even
within the context of a single field, that
conceit is nothing short of ridiculous. In
order for a builder to keep up with interrelated
trade technologies, reliance on
prescriptive standards and building
codes should be standard operational
procedure.
Within any specialization, a practitioner
will undoubtedly want to rely on
exhaustive standards for that trade, but
for a general contractor or construction
supervisor, a more general overview is
appropriate. That's the impetus behind
Residential & Light Commercial
Construction Standards (1998, R.S.
Means, Construction Plaza, 63