The Best House You Can Build
There are codes and there are standards. A great home requires both.
A few decades ago, a TV commercial for Kosher hot dogs showed a surprised and disappointed Uncle Sam learning that government authorities allowed the company to use artificial colorings and non-meat fillers in their product. The tagline was a classic: “We don’t. We’re Kosher and we have to answer to an even higher authority.”
It was a brilliant piece of advertising.
But it wasn’t brilliant just because of the tagline. It was also true. Government standards define what a company can get away with; they don’t ensure the best possible result. This truth also applies to building codes.
Don’t get us wrong: codes are essential. Structural codes ensure that your stairs don’t create a trip hazard and that your home will stand up to whatever gravity and nature throw at it. Fire codes keep it from becoming a tinderbox. Electrical codes protect you against fire and shock. Plumbing and sanitation codes are why you have clean water.
These and many other requirements keep you safe and healthy. We’re grateful for them and you should be, too.
But while codes ensure a safe home, they don’t guarantee top-quality work. There’s a common saying in the building industry: a house built merely to code is the worst that legally can be built. That’s probably an overstatement but it makes a valid point. Professional builders hold themselves to more exacting standards.
There are many ways to illustrate this, but let’s take floor framing as an example. Codes specify the maximum distance that floor joists can span without support from an underlying beam. A floor built to those specs will bear the combined weight of furniture and people, but it may still bounce enough to rattle your china when the kids stomp through the dining room. Professional builders who want happy clients go beyond code by using deeper joists or shorter spans to keep the floor stiff.
The difference here is between building codes and standards of excellence. You need both to build a great house. The reason competitive bidding so often yields unsatisfying results is that the lowest bidders have little incentive to commit to any standards beyond the code.
To ensure excellence, quality-conscious professional builders follow best practice standards. There are quantifiable standards for every part of the job, from how level the floor framing must be, to the maximum allowable moisture content of interior wood trim and flooring (the drier the wood, the less it will shrink), to the smoothness of the drywall finish (which will depend on the location and paint color).
An established professional builder will have a team of in-house workers and subcontractors who understand—and consistently meet—the requirements that apply to their part of the job. The best teams are obsessed with things like straight walls, square corners, blemish-free finishes, doors that close properly, and windows that won’t leak over time.
When it comes to actual code requirements, if the team is working in an area where the code inspectors aren’t particularly fussy, these professionals will still exceed those requirements.
Great builders want their clients to be safe and happy. They want to eliminate unwelcome surprises. They want to build the best house possible. Their higher authority is a commitment to standards that ensure those results.
