A Little Bit of History of Building Codes in the United States

A Little Bit of History of Building Codes in the United States

I know that there were problems with structures long before construction started in America and there were consequences for shotty workmanship; maybe even your life. Building regulations date back to the beginning of recorded history.

The Code of Hammurabi (2200 B.C.) Included a simple but effective building code provision; if an architect built a house so negligently that it fell down and killed the owner's son, and then the architect's son was put to death. Present-day building codes have evolved into a comprehensive system of regulations which define safety requirements for the built environment.

I don’t know how many roofs collapsed during bad winters on the early log cabins or how many teepees were blown away because they were not secured properly by high winds but now that we know about problems don’t we have an obligation to protect the innocent?  So where did it all begin?

Many great Americans such as George himself, that’s President 

George Washington, as well as the likes of gentlemen such Thomas Jefferson tried to get the tradesmen of the era to follow some type of minimum code or standards and building regulations that, would hopefully protect the people.

But it wasn’t really until the early parts of the 1900’s that codes really started to come about.  Earlier that that I’m sure that if the carpenter who built your project messed up there might have been a gunfight, a fistfight or possibly they may have found a lawyer and a judge that helped resolve the problem but again the nation was growing and people were moving so something had to be done.  Whala, the first codes.

So it appears that sometime in 1915 those that were somewhat  in charge and overseeing the building industry got together to simply ask, what the heck are we going to do?  It’s ironic that I’m still sitting in meetings and we are asking the same questions.  Well, as Americans, one thing we are good at is to create numerous groups and agencies to oversee what one group could do.  The very first group ended up being known as BOCA.  Okay, the Building Officials and Code Administrators International, Inc. was the actual name and they basically represented those who lived in the east and some who live in the mid-west portions of the United States.  So, they set up their headquarters at a Country Club, no, I’m sorry, in County Club Hills, Illinois and then proceeded to have offices in other areas such as the state of Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and New York.  I wonder if they actually inspected the Statue of Liberty (September 1875) and what corrections the French needed to correct prior to sticking her on the island.

Well, we can’t be outdone if we lived beyond the Rockies so another group of building official type people formed the second organization in America which was formed around 1922.  They were calling themselves the men of ICBO or aka, the International Conference of Building Officials.  I actually started out with ICBO.  They decided that they were going to be based in Whittier, California.  Was this before or after President Richard

Nixon was born there? (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994)  I actually have a letter from him thanking me for my service in the Army (but he also signed the paperwork that drafted me into the Army).

The next to fall in line was the SBCCI aka the Standard Building Code Congress International.  They were gentlemen who thought that a voice from the Southern States needed to be heard and set up headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama.  I’m headed to Birmingham to rewrite and vet the questions for inspectors on accessibility but under the ICC aka the International Code Council; yep another one but one that combined all of the above.

What a nightmare!  Each group or organization believed in what they were doing and each was independent from the others.  And, there are others, the NFPA aka National Fire Protection Association since 1896, IAPMO aka the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, IAEI aka known as the International Association of Electrical Inspectors since 1928.  Then you have several states and even separate individual cities that decided that they knew better so established their own codes.

 Then finally in 1994 (yeah I was there when it started) the International Code Council (ICC) was established with a goal of developing a single set of national construction codes. Remember the groups I mentioned above; BOCA, ICBO and the SBCCI. They finally heard the voice of reason throughout the nation and met in nasty argumentative meetings and when the dust settled the ICC was formed. So from three national codes one single national code was written and somewhat without regional limitations.  Of course each state then amends the heck out of the national codes to better fit their individual situations.  If you want to know how I feel about that I wrote a previous post about the state of Utah and the conflict.

I believe in the codes, good or bad and there are substantial advantages in combining the efforts to produce a single set of codes. Across this great country, code enforcement officials, architects, engineers, designers and contractors can now work with a set of codes that can be used by everyone.  Certification programs can now be alike and be used to better educate those who are making inspections their career.

Codes are like a virus.  They appear to be a living organism that evolves.  If you ever want to be put to sleep or even entertained be a part of the national code hearings.  I’ve witnessed consultants, CBO’s and Fire Marshals argue on both sides, yea or nay, argue that the code change should take place.  Now states are bypassing adopting cycles of codes; some are on six year cycles.  Ironically, in this inspector’s opinion, we are back to where it all began.