Common Building Construction Code Violations: A Case Study
Publication: Construction Research Congress 2024
ABSTRACT
Most cities, counties, and states in the US adopt popular modal building codes such as the International Residential Code (IRC) and the International Building Code (IBC) for their jurisdictions with or without amendments. These codes provide a comprehensive set of requirements for residential and commercial construction. Inspectors from city, county, and state use these codes to ensure that the buildings being constructed in their jurisdictions meet the minimum standard to protect health, safety, and welfare of the occupants. If the construction is not up to the code, building inspection will fail, and the issues need to be fixed before continuing the construction. Such inspection failures can delay the project, increase the construction cost, and negatively impact the reputation of the builders. Such inspection failures can be reduced by identifying and understanding the most common building code violations from past projects. This study identifies the five to 12 most common building code violations for each of the five categories of inspections: (1) framing, (2) plumbing, (3) electrical, (4) gas, and (5) mechanical. The findings can be shared with builders and homeowners to educate them about the common code violations, which can reduce the number of building code violations in the future.
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Published online: Mar 18, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Building codes
- Business management
- Case studies
- Construction engineering
- Construction industry
- Construction management
- Engineering fundamentals
- Inspection
- Jurisdiction
- Laws and regulations
- Legal affairs
- Methodology (by type)
- Practice and Profession
- Public administration
- Public health and safety
- Research methods (by type)
- Residential construction
- Safety
- Standards and codes
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