Ja’Keris Porter

2 September 2021
Intro. To Bldg Construction Fundamentals
Professor Hamid

The Value of Impact of Building Codes

I. Executive Summary
1.Building codes are applied incrementally due to a bureaucratic process.
2.Model codes - a set of minimum requirements to aid in precision building.
3.Code development accesses technology and consumer demand.
4.Buildings consume about 40% of total U.S. energy consumption and 40% of U.S.
greenhouse gas emissions.
5. Updated codes produce a more valuable building that should benefit builders in addition
to owners.

II. Introduction
1. Model codes are developed in an open, transparent, democratic, national process that
welcomes input and participation from all interested stakeholders.
2. Some jurisdictions are not up to par out of ignorance, negligence or inability (monetarily).
3. When enforced model codes serve as a common-language script for architects,
engineers, builders/contractors and inspectors.
4. Current codes...also stimulate the market for product innovation and improved building
performance.
5. When state and local authorities do not adopt and enforce current codes they are
allowing construction that do not meet current consensus on minimum requirements.

III. Background
1. Building requirements are reviewed through the model code revision process every 3
years.
2. Codes are designed to protect all vulnerable entities (people and property) from adverse
weather and extreme events.
3. Codes also ensure structural integrity; insofar as the applicable fields (plumbing,
electrical, and mechanical), as well as accessibility and practicality and energy
efficiency.
4. Building industry stakeholders affected by building codes include contractors and
subcontractors, manufacturers of building products and materials, insurance companies,
facility managers, building owners and tenants, and building inspectors.
5. Innovations, spurred by building codes, lead to enhanced construction industry job skills.

IV. Codes as Living Documents

1. America aims to be a leader in innovation yet there are opponents of the 3 year code
cycle. They propose a 6 year cycle instead.
 2. Adopting 6 years would pose issues of breadth. Three years is one generation of codes
so adding another 3 years would necessitate navigation of two cycles of change versus
one.
3. The 6 year cycle is not in the best interest of many companies. The corporate
performance metric, “percentage of sales revenue derived from new products three
years old or less”, has had an upward trend for higher performing companies.
4. Up-to-date building codes can lead to valuable operational cost-savings for building
owners. A building constructed to the 2012 code is going to be a more advanced and
more valuable building than one built to the 2006 or 2009 code.
5. The hospital industry calls for codes to be updated regularly. Outdated, obsolete codes
can pose problems for hospitals, often draining resources and diverting them away from
patient care requirements. Adopting the latest codes and standards hospitals can ensure
a safer environment without unnecessarily diminishing scarce health care resources.

V. What Lawmakers Should Consider

1. Extreme weather poses a significant risk to the construction industry. They cause homes
and businesses to be considered uninsurable in the private market. A building, or home,
up to code will withstand the forces of nature better than homes built to older codes.
2. Energy code enforcement helps ensure comfort and cost savings. Better, smarter design
and construction can cut first costs as well as operating costs. Builders can reduce the
cooling system capacity, in turn, resulting in first-cost and incremental costs and savings.
3. Implementation of new policies and practices should consider performance goals (of the
structures and the purpose they serve) as well as public health, protection of
ecosystems, and economic sustainability.
4. In 2012, the Consumers Union revealed that 82% of homeowners felt that: they have a
right to a home that meets minimum energy efficiency standards; 74% felt codes added
to the purchase price of a new home and effectively lowered monthly operating costs;
75% felt energy codes should be enforced liek other safety and quality standards of
construction.
5. The most important costs to the owner usually are the current operating costs of the
building and to a lesser extent, the costs during the period of his/her ownership.

VI. Challenges and Opportunities

1. Improving technology requires constantly updating code to take advantage of those
innovations. Inversely, code modifications help accelerate innovation because they
create markets for products at and beyond the current code.
2. The lack of resources affects the ability of state and local officials to ensure that new
buildings are satisfying the requirements provided by codes and standards and
achieving the inherent benefits.
3. Properly constructed building envelopes require highly-trained builders because
problems such as thermal bridging and inadequate insulation often cannot be corrected
after the fact. In spite of initial costs attaining new skills, costs lessen as efficiency is
obtained, and dividends are paid back with new business opportunities.
 4. Property insurers were among the first to implement modern building codes. They have
worked to expand codes to cover fire-related risks and natural hazard-related provisions
as well. High-risk properties end up being insured by state-backed government
programs which leaves taxpayers liable for the costs and the risks as the “insurer of last
recourse”.
5. Building codes serve as insurance to homeowners that their health is being considered.
Most new home buyers do not have the expertise to inspect their purchase to ensure it
was designed and constructed to meet minimum codes for fire safety, structural integrity,
energy efficiency or resistance to damaging winds.

VII. Complementary Policies - How Policy Changes on Related Issues Could Revolutionize the
Building Sector by Making Code Compliance and High Performance Building Profitable for All
Parties

1. Codes have served an important purpose throughout history. By delivering dramatic

improvements in regards to carbon-emission, building standards, and energy efficiency
codes are a benefit to us all.
2. It is important to consider how codes can be used to implement further knowledge in the
future.
3. There are futuristic builders who go beyond code to enhance energy efficiency,
incorporate renewable energy technologies, and achieve resilient sites. It is worth
considering their methods, by testing concepts, in order to either legitimize or
discontinue certain practices.
4. There are arbitrary caps on building evaluation that affect how much a building’s value
can vary from comparable buildings in the neighborhood.
5. There is legislation to change the approach to building stock. One such policy is the
Safe Building Code Incentive

VIII. Conclusion

1. Failure to update the skills of building inspectors and plans reviewers helps to undermine
the value for adopting new model codes.
2. Model codes adopted statewide, and their updates, help legislators with providing safe
structures for inhabitants.
3. Three year intervals, of code implementation, match the business cycle. Three years or
less is the standard definition of a new product.
4. Improvements in our knowledge of natural disasters and climate change help with new
codes
5. Six years is too long to wait because building industry suppliers have an almost
completely new product line.