Once I would have shelled out gladly for any technical document that I felt my wee company would need. As a part-time college tutor I also had the luxury of free access to BS standards. Now it seems that I have an almost Shylock approach to such things. BS7671 is totally indispensable for me so digging for that £80 wasn’t too bad but compare that to the eye-watering £380 for BS 5839-1 2017!
The difference between the 2013 version and the new 2017 version is really quite minimal. For small contractors doing two or three fire alarm installations per year the cost of updating to the new standard is really quite prohibitive. I guess if they have access to the 2013 version they will continue to comply almost by default.
The cost of these standards is far too high, more especially because they change so frequently.
BS 7671 is, by comparison, for buttons!
