The definition of insanity is to do the same action repeatedly even though the outcome never changes.An example would be the staggeringly insane behaviour of generals in the First World War who sent wave after wave of young men to certain death in the quest for a few hundred yards.
Similarly, we’ve all see builders who send back the same guy with a silicon gun over and over and over again hoping that one day there will be enough goo in the roof, balcony or wall to deal with that intensely annoying leak that never seems to stop.
Heaven forbid that the builder might actually stop and give some thought to exactly why the leak is happening rather than applying a band-aid that was never going to work.
The question is why does this happen? Here are some reasons I can think of:
The key takeaway message here is that activity is not necessarily an appropriate substitute for the careful and considered thought that must precede worthwhile action. Unfortunately, careful and considered thought involves effort and attention to detail which does not come naturally to most people (including builders). Indeed, many defects would be avoided if the builder spent more time working through the detail during the construction phase.
The trouble is, with the passing of the position of clerk of works and the introduction of private certifiers whose responsibility is limited to only certain checks, there is unfortunately no one in the building process looking after the detail.