Shortfalls in building-code enforcement and compliance have been cited repeatedly as obstacles in reducing losses of lives and property in natural disasters. The conventional responses call for stronger code enforcement by local authorities and for improved building codes. This proposal extends research concerning code enforcement to consider the role of various factors in shaping the decisions that residential contractors make about compliance with code provisions. This shifts attention from framing the problem as one of increasing enforcement to framing it as one of obtaining compliance. The central policy question is how compliance can be improved in the absence of strong enforcement.
The prior research and theorizing about compliance decision-making provide bases for generating hypotheses about the role of attitudes and values in shaping compliance, as well as hypotheses concerning the influence of different enforcement approaches upon contractors' attitudes and values about compliance. These hypotheses will be examined for the compliance of contractors involved in residential construction (rehabilitation and new) for a sample of cities in Western Washington. Data collection methods will include a survey of contractors and on site observations.
