> The architect was a necessity to send plans for approval. […] Besides that, the architect was a complete waste of money
That's the problem I was trying to point at: you need to pay someone useless for the sake of bureaucracy. How is this not insane?
> Both, architects and engineers are liable for their designs so over here. Reason why the stamp is so important and expensive, you need quite a pricey insurance for that.
Ah, insurance: the reason why they're allowed to suck, and still be in business. That's not right. If the design is wrong, and it has consequences, whoever approved it should be personally liable for it, at least to a significant extent. A sufficiently serious blunder should bar them from approving designing buildings, or at least approving building designs, ever again. As should repeat offences.
Perhaps that's already the case, but the anecdotal evidence I amassed thus far (in France) doesn't isn't encouraging.
They are personally liable. That's what their stamp means.
And are you claiming that insurance should not be permitted? If so, that seems... Silly. People make mistakes. If a single mistake has the potential to ruin your entire livelihood, you'll quickly find that you're lacking anyone willing to put on their stamp without putting up enough money to cover all the liability. That is, instead of them pooling together to get liability insurance, each individual will instead have to pass on those costs to their customers.
> And are you claiming that insurance should not be permitted?
I'm saying insurances should probably be limited. So there'd be some cost of doing mistakes. Ideally it wouldn't be crippling if one makes a mistake here and there, but repeated negligence would drive one out of business. I expect this would drive the price of insurance down, and the salary of the engineer up. Hopefully this evens out for the customer.
Alternatively, let the insurances cover everything, but if one makes too many mistakes (or a very serious enough one), then they would lose their right to vet designs at all.
That's the problem I was trying to point at: you need to pay someone useless for the sake of bureaucracy. How is this not insane?
> Both, architects and engineers are liable for their designs so over here. Reason why the stamp is so important and expensive, you need quite a pricey insurance for that.
Ah, insurance: the reason why they're allowed to suck, and still be in business. That's not right. If the design is wrong, and it has consequences, whoever approved it should be personally liable for it, at least to a significant extent. A sufficiently serious blunder should bar them from approving designing buildings, or at least approving building designs, ever again. As should repeat offences.
Perhaps that's already the case, but the anecdotal evidence I amassed thus far (in France) doesn't isn't encouraging.