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NAHB

CodeWarrior

CodeWarrior

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www.achrnews.com

Debate Over Building Codes Heats Up as Housing Affordability Crisis Deepens

While home builders argue rolling back code requirements will help affordability, code officials engage with contractors and builders to develop standards the promote affordability.
www.achrnews.com www.achrnews.com

It looks like ICC is trying to hold firm against NAHB complaints about code driven construction costs. ICC was heavily criticized for modifying the IECC after the consensus process was completed, so with new leadership, it will remain to be seen if that was the last time this will happen.

Of course, the ICC codes are model codes, so NAHB and others are actively petitioning state and local governments with cost related proposals.

Housing costs are largely driven by supply and demand. Divorce and other circumstances creates the need for two or more households from what was previously one home. Further, the percentage of the economy devoted to home building peaked in the 1970s and hasn't come back since. Some of the slowdown is due to agencies like the Calif. Coastal Commission and local efforts that made construction impractical.
 
Yankee Chronicler said:
especially the IRC -- have become too complex
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I don’t think that there is an abundance of unnecessary complexity in the code such that burdensome expense is baked in. There are regional demands that add huge costs such as solar and EVC circuits.

Over the years I have witnessed the advent of the over productive engineer. They push some strange solutions to perceived problems. Then they insist on being paid to verify their creation.

I recently encounterd a 1200 sq.ft. ADU that required over forty mst straps. Three Engineer’s Observation reports.
 
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TheCommish said:
Not giving up my email to read the OPs posted article
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Right click on the popup and click on "Read Mode" if you use Chrome.

Here is a summary of the article:

As housing costs continue to climb across the United States, a growing debate is unfolding between home builders and code officials. The National Association of Home Builders is urging Congress to roll back what it describes as excessive regulations, claiming that building code requirements have become a major barrier to constructing new homes and apartments. They argue that evolving codes aimed at improving safety, energy efficiency, and resilience are driving up costs, delaying projects, and making it harder for Americans to afford a home. Code officials, however, see it differently. Building codes exist for a reason. They are based on decades of lessons learned from disasters, structural failures, and energy inefficiency. Reducing or eliminating these protections in the name of short-term savings ignores the long-term costs to homeowners, communities, and taxpayers. What builders often leave out is that they already influence the code development process and regularly push to weaken requirements during hearings. The idea that code officials are creating arbitrary burdens is a misleading narrative. Builders are also rarely held accountable for cutting corners to protect their profit margins while still selling homes at premium prices. Strong building codes ensure lower utility bills, fewer repairs, and safer communities, which translates into savings over the life of the structure. Instead of blaming the code, we should be addressing how building departments are underfunded and understaffed due to misuse of permit fees by local governments. When builders complain about delays and red tape, they are often pointing at the consequences of a system that is stretched thin by design. Rolling back codes will not fix the affordability crisis. It will only shift the burden to the next generation who will pay the price through higher insurance premiums, disaster recovery costs, and repairs. Quality, efficiency, and safety are not luxuries. They are the foundation of long-term affordability and public trust.
 
There has been a fair amount of research into the legitimacy of the claim that code adds too much cost. When surveyed most builders are pointing to costs that are not driven from codes, but other associated requirements, such as zoning. Even when there are legitimate costs concerns from code, it typically has to do with the lack of consistent enforcement at the local level, not the code requirements themselves.

I remember listening to a lot of builders complaining that codes were making houses unaffordable while standing in a newly built home with granite counters, engineered hardwood, etc.

For a lot of people, a house is "unaffordable" because they can't buy the house they want. But the reality is, even if they could afford the house they want right now, they then want something bigger and nicer. In most places, it is fairly inexpensive to build a simple small home.
 
"The Economy" is driving up prices on everything...Why should houses be special? Blame a nebulous "system" and then no one is really responsible, and we never have to solve the problem....

Agree with TM on many of the "code" requirements are zoning or other agencies and not straight building code issues. Maybe if we had house size maximums instead of minimums, that would help....

tmurray said:
typically has to do with the lack of consistent enforcement at the local level, not the code requirements themselves
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Complications and unknowns= COST....And that is 50/50 us and them....
tmurray said:
"unaffordable" because they can't buy the house they want.
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Yep...most of us grew up in a used 1000ft ranch or similar with 1 bathroom and now you rarely see a house <2000ft....at least in my world...
 
In Kansas, the only codes are in jurisdictions that want to require them. House prices are just as high in neighboring areas with no code enforcement whatsoever. And those homes were value engineered by builders who couldn't make it in an area with code enforcement. You can forget about carbon monoxide alarms, handrails, consistent stair slope or riser height, landings, stair head height, insulation behind the bathtub, a dry basement, fire protection of floors, fire blocking, truss bracing, uplift resistance, or wall bracing. You might be lucky and get a smoke alarm - but it will be in the mechanical room where no one will hear it, or the kitchen where it will nuisance alarm. The deck ledger will be nailed on and the footings 12" in diameter, regardless of loading. You might get joist hangers... maybe.

But they will certainly have granite countertops and pretty plumbing fixtures.
 
jar546 said:
Is that valuation based on sales of existing homes too,
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Yes it is based on all home sales .
I can pull permits where the valuation given by the contractor went up $30,000.00 in 6 months on track homes they where building. the codes never changed and they where constructed in an existing subdivision by a developer/contractor who owned the subdivision.
 
mtlogcabin said:
Yes it is based on all home sales .
I can pull permits where the valuation given by the contractor went up $30,000.00 in 6 months on track homes they where building. the codes never changed and they where constructed in an existing subdivision by a developer/contractor who owned the subdivision.
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That says it all right there.
 
There is a tract of new homes that sell for $1m+. Major home builder and probably several hundred houses. A friend's son was in escrow when I was asked to take a look. As I was looking at the house, a pair of construction superintendents approached and ask me what i was doing. When told that I was an inspector they explained that the City has the strictest inspectors that they have ever dealt with....so there will be no problems found. I didn't say anything as I was basically trespassing and didn't want to be tossed off the property. But oh my the stuff I found gave me insight as to the competence of the city inspectors. Beyond that, I had been inspected by those same inspectors on a project that did at my own home....so I knew the truth.

The mistakes that stood out were obvious maintenance issues that will go unnoticed until it's a big deal to fix. I might have posted pictures here. Well anyway, there was a great room with a vaulted ceiling that ran the length of the house. The space included the kitchen, breakfast area and ample room for furniture and a television.
One evening as the lady was preparing dinner, she heard a sound that she was not familiar with and the drywall split open where the ceiling met the exterior wall...from one end of the house to the other. There was a substantial gap with a noticeable dip.

The discussion of the thread has to do with the relationship between codes and cost. It is moot if the jurisdictions do not have competent inspectors. There can be twice as many codes but if nobody seems to care... what's the point? So what drives the price of anything? Supply and demand. Tract houses are value engineered to the actual code. Everything else is a crap shoot as to whether it is overbuilt, under-built or impossible to build.

I do not think that codes drive the cost. In many places, codes are an afterthought. Take San Bernardino County as an example. Years ago a new inspector that I worked with quit LA County to work for San Bernardino County. It was closer to his home and he was so inexperienced as to be...well I'll be kind and stop there. He found out that SBC approved any plan with a designer signature without performing a plan check. It wasn't long before he went back to his first love, selling retrofit windows.

The houses in SBC are what the market will bear and codes are not a factor. There are many similar jurisdictions here in So. Cal. The general public has a skewed idea of the role and even more so the actual performance of building departments.
 
Oh, the NAHB… my dear sweet NAHB.

Once, in Marrakesh, I met a man who built houses out of compressed camel dung. Quite literally, he was full of it. Yet even he, wearing a keffiyeh made from repurposed rebar, had more regard for structural integrity than some of the fine folks lobbying their way through ICC code hearings.

You see, the NAHB is not in the business of building homes. They are in the business of illusions. Sleight of hand contractors who turn plywood into profit and rebrand cutting corners as cost efficiency. They charm their way through committee meetings and propose code changes with the same enthusiasm a fox proposes redesigning the henhouse. And we are all supposed to believe it is for the greater good.

They moan about overregulation the way a pickpocket complains about security cameras. They tell voting members they just want to make housing more affordable. What they really mean is they would prefer not to install fire blocking if it means an extra trip to the lumber aisle.

The truth is, they are like Broadway producers demanding to skip rehearsals because the costumes are too expensive. Sure, the audience might still show up, but someone is bound to die in Act Two when the set collapses.

Codes are not the enemy. They are the instruction manual for surviving greed.

So the next time you hear the NAHB whispering sweet nothings into the ICC’s ear, remember this. The wolf was never the problem. The straw house was.

—Raymond Reddington
 
ICE said:
The discussion of the thread has to do with the relationship between codes and cost. It is moot if the jurisdictions do not have competent inspectors. There can be twice as many codes but if nobody seems to care... what's the point?
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When code compliance isn't valued, there is no value.....Unless you sell it before it becomes your problem. Welcome to the biggest game of kick the can ever...
 
The other thing I really question is that if code requirements were actually reduced, would the cost of construction actually come down? Companies are amoral and have a fiduciary responsibility to generate as much profit as possible. The market has already accepted that the current price for construction is acceptable. If construction costs are reduced, there is no real force to ensure that finished costs are similarly reduced.
 
Let's not forget the role of financial markets on housing costs. Housing subsidies, down payment assistance, artificially low interest rates, money printing and nonstop lender offers have turned your home into a asset first and a place of shelter second.

Need cash for whatever suits your fancy? Saving for that goal takes time and effort. Tapping into your home for the money from a lender with huge funding resources is quicker.
 
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