Staggering lapped joints increases the complexity of detailing and steel fixing, which may necessitate more resources and hinder site development. Major design rules favor staggered lapped joints under tension by incurring a lap length penalty based on the proportion of bars lapped at the same section. For example, if 10 percent of the total bar length is lapped, then that represents 10 percent of the available length for other components or sections. The remaining 90 percent of the bar length can be used for other purposes. Lap lengths between bars should be equal so that the joint will have uniform resistance to tension. However, equal lap lengths result in reduced area for load distribution, so most manufacturers stagger the laps to avoid this problem. Staggered lapped joints increase the complexity of detailing and steel fixing, which may necessitate more resources and hinder site development.