Editorial Editorial (March 19, 2004)

New building code could cost you money

Amid last year's gubernatorial political turmoil in Sacramento, the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) rejected a new national building code adopted by all the other states in favor of NFPA 5000, a code written by the National Fire Protection Association with the input and support of union and politically aligned organizations. Municipal building officials, including George Thomas, Pleasanton's Chief Building and Safety Official, preferred the new International Building Code (I-Code) that other states and municipalities are now using as their officially recognized update and revision of the 1997 Uniformed Building Code. That 1997 code, with periodic updates, served as the U.S. standard for building and fire safety codes since 1925.

In an interview published in today's Real Estate section, Thomas tells the Weekly that the new California code could significantly delay and substantially raise costs for new construction and building remodeling in Pleasanton and throughout the state. Just four months ago, he won a reprieve from the Chicago-based Insurance Service Organization that wanted to downgrade Pleasanton's classification because of the CBSC action that would have raised homeowners' insurance rates by as much as $100. Other cities, like Fremont, weren't as fortunate as underwriters cut its rating by several points. Thomas' chief criticism, and he has support from building officials across the state, is that NFPA 5000 focuses less on what it will and won't allow than on how it is written. The new code contains numerous contradictions and inconsistencies which even Thomas, with his 19 years of experience in the construction regulation and inspection field, has trouble understanding. It is written more like a code commentary than an actual enforceable code, referencing dozens of other standards and codes which will require architects, builders and code enforcement agencies like Pleasanton's to buy a lot of other books to interpret just what NFPA 5000 calls for. Coincidentally, most of the reference books, including the code, itself, can be purchased only through the NFPA catalogue or one of its related organizations, such as the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials. Per-copy prices start at $62 and anyone involved in designing, building and inspecting commercial and residential buildings, including hospitals and schools, would need one.

No one claims that the NFPA 5000 code is less safe in terms of fire safety and construction standards than the I-Code, which makes the CBSC's endorsement even more puzzling. The American Institute of Architects, in its own analysis of both codes, reports that it will take at least three times the review time to build a new school under the NFPA. A contractors' organization estimates that builders will pay up to 20 percent more for products under the NFPA standards. San Jose plan reviewers, who are outside consultants hired by planning departments like Pleasanton's to double-check project designs, found that NFPA 5000 would take 10 to 15 percent more time to conduct their analyses than under I-Code guidelines. Opponents of CBSC's decision to adopt the NFPA standards come from all sectors of the construction industry: architects, engineers, building officials, building owners, contractors and the League of California Cities, including fire protection officers like Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Chief Stewart Gary, even though the firefighters' union has been a major NFPA supporter. Yet the CBSC chose to adopt NFPA 5000, an untested, 1-year-old building code used only in Pasadena, Texas.

Despite its enthusiasm for NFPA, even the California Building Standards Commission recognizes its new code is too complicated to implement, at least before 2006. That will give Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger time to replace all but two of 11 members former Gov. Gray Davis appointed with a new team that could call for another vote on joining the rest of the states by adopting the I-Code standards.

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