ANSI Z765 – Residential Housing Square Footage

I spotted a headline in the Wall Street Journal the other day.  It included the statement “With no national standard in calculating square footage…”  There’s a little something to get a standards professional’s dander up!  Of course, there is a national standard for residential housing square footage — The ANSI Z765 (aka NAHB Z765).  Titled Single Family Residential Buildings, Square Footage – Method of Calculating, it was originally issued in 1996.  Since that time, it’s been updated twice.  The 2013 Edition is the current revision.

So why would the WSJ pronounce the lack of a standard?  Further into the article, the reason is clarified.  It’s not the lack of a standard, its the lack of a uniformly implemented standard.  Yep, according to the WSJ author, a standard is not a standard if it is not universally applied.  And why is the ANSI Z765 not universally applied?  Because some states in the U.S. use other measurement practices in order to calculate square footage for property tax purposes.

And that’s the rub for voluntary standardization.  A standard can be created but it lacks a certain viability unless it is applied.  For the ANSI Z765, there are a lot of good reasons to use the standard and most real estate appraisers do.

First, using a standard reduces legal liability issues.  According to a great powerpoint presentation by Bryon Miller (presented in 2014 at a meeting of AI Connect), “One of the most common reasons appraisers & realtors get sued is over measuring disagreements.”  Being able to prove that a standard was used as the basis of a product, measurement or test provides “best practices” support of your position.

Second, using a standard provides a repeatable number.  And by using the same method for a variety of samples, you are then able to compare “apples to apples.”  This consistency of results is a major reason that organizations rely on standardization.

Third, standards are developed by a group of professionals.  Casting a wide net during the process of setting up a committee to do the work of standardization enhances the likelihood of an impartial result.  The Bryon Miller power point includes 12 well-respected organizations on slide 26 as a partial list of participants in the last update of the ANSI Z765.  Impressive!

So, that’s the challenge for Standards organizations.  The development of a standard is actually only half the battle.  Getting a standard implemented is the greater endeavor.  One pathway is to have standards embedded in regulatory rules.  This comes with its own set of issues.  Another is to have advocates like Mr. Miller educate the user base on the benefits of using a particular document.

For those of you new to standards, you’ll want help in learning to identify the documents that will offer benefit to your organization.  Let Document Center Inc. help you out.  You can search for and order standards at our webstore, www.document-center.com.  Here is a link to the order page for the ANSI Z765 for your convenience.

Or you may want to get in touch with us directly.  We can be reached by phone (650-591-7600) or by email (info@document-center.com).  We have been working with standards since 1982 and have a wide array of additional support services developed to make it easier to find and use the standards you need.  Make us your Standards Experts!