Construction errors as the cause of building damage are not avoided by standards, but by knowledge of natural principles. The contract of work and labour should guarantee success – for fair-faced concrete also. DIN regulations are not cook books in the sense of ‘take …’, i.e. it is of no use something being in a DIN regulation or being adopted from a data sheet or if the product has an approval if there is nevertheless a residual risk that could lead to damage or deviation. In connection with this, this article refers to the shrinkage behaviour in structural elements made of architectural concrete.