[Porsche-O-Phile]

At risk of offending the contractors here, I'll reword my statement above to read ". . . even if there were NO building codes or government regulation at all, I'd bet dollars to donuts that most buildings would still be over-DESIGNED [formerly: "overbuilt"] because of everyone's fear of getting sued these days."

I can say with absolute certainty that in the design field right now, fear of being sued is FAR greater than fear of busting a particular code item. In general most guys get the codes right, but occasionally miss an obscure one. The operative word is "intent". I don't know of a single design professional who would INTENTIONALLY omit or sidestep a code requirement. Bend rules? Sure. Avail onesself of loopholes to benefit a client? Absolutely. Break rules? No way. WAY too much liability.

Consider the following scenarios and decide which is worse:

A) You design a building 100% to code, but it still experiences a failure and partial collapse, killing someone.

B) You inadvertently omit a code item but otherwise design a good, stable, safe and beautiful building.

You seriously think getting busted for missing a code item is worse than the threat of a personal injury (or death) lawsuit? Not a chance.