cda said:
Just wonder what is the average code adoption cycle in ahj's United States wide?
State of Washington madates all jurisdictions adopt on a three year cycle. We adopt July 1 of the following year. So this July 1, we are now on the 2012.
Recently there was a survey by WABO (Washington Association of Building Officials) to switch the state to every other cycle, essentially a 6 year cycle. Of course the ICC lobbied very heavy against this. I am in favor of a 5 or 6 year cycle. I just thought it was futile to try to lobby the ICC.
I think that new prodcuts can eaisly be approved under AMM, so a 5 year vs 3 year cycle doesn't matter. If a new product comes out the day after the codes are published, we can consider and approve it under AMM regardless of when the next cycle is.
As far as $$, the ICC is technically a non-profit, however, they have morphed in to a large quasi-governement bueacracy, with more expenses and more prodcuts to keep a larger network moving.
I would gladly pay 40% more for books and training materials the same. The direct costs of the books are not what hits us the hardest, it is the indirect costs. Number of staff hours for training every 3 years. Travel time. Cost of updating forms and literature. Cost of explaining changes. We have permits that are open under a whole string of codes, leading to confusion as to when it was applied for, what codes were in affect at that time, etc.
While there have been a number of great advances in the codes, I personally feel that a number of the changes are being made due to industry lobbying as well as making changes for the sake of changes.
JMHO. I will be voting for the 5 year cycles and encouraging everyone I know to do the same. Again, I am more than willing to accept an increase in book and training manual costs to offset the frequency of the sales.