> I guess the same can be said about plumbing and HVAC installations.

I feel like both of those have fewer paths to a successful end-product, and minor issues in the final product are way more visible to the users thereof.

We tend to have a pretty high tolerance for minor software "quirks", unlike if the hot water system or the drains start acting up...

I’m confused.

Is your point that programmers are generally worse than plumbers and HVAC installers? People except software to be trash and barely usable, but have higher expectations for plumbing and HVAC?

No, my point is that quality is a lot easier to judge objectively in most other technical fields. Programming is somewhat unique among engineering disciplines in that our field has consistently defied objective definitions of quality - on the scale from mechanical engineering to creative writing, we're often a lot further from the engineering end than one might expect