Materials, and particularly insulation, were specified to the needs of the structure, rather than conventional standards, which he considered overengineered.
A story about very precise engineering is given in the 1858 story The Deacon's Masterpiece or, the Wonderful "One-hoss Shay": A Logical Story by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., which tells of a carriage (one-horse shay)
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Second World War German tanks are typical examples of overengineered vehicles, which made them more expensive, fewer in number, more difficult to produce and heavier than their Soviet and Allied counterparts, while F-22 and F-35 fighters may be considered as examples of modern-day overengineering.