Dear James: I’m having a house built, and it was designed to meet all building codes. Is it still a good idea to make periodic visits to the site, and if so, what should I look for?—Shelly T.
Dear Shelly: Being assured that your house is built to code is comforting, but it really only means that the house will not collapse around you. The code requirements are the bare minimum for solid construction, and you will probably want to have some design upgrades from strictly a code-built house.
