How Florida heeded building codes — until now

Physicians, lawyers, educators, accountants, hairstylists — careers that require continuing education long after initial school and training are complete. Yet, not one of these professions requires its licensing board to scrap industry practices, have an entirely new core set of standards automatically accepted in totality and then reviewed as to whether they are appropriate or not. That would be insane. Yet that is how the Florida Building Code worked.

Not anymore. Thank goodness for progress.

Building codes matter — we learned that from Hurricane Andrew. Florida has made itself the strongest code in the nation. We are now the gold standard. That’s why the Legislature’s nearly unanimous support of the Code Development Modernization Bill (HB 1021 from the 2017 Legislative Session) is crucial to moving forward.

Florida needs to be the master of its own, superior building codes.

Prior to the passage of the Modernization Bill, the Florida Building Commission (FBC) would automatically accept the International Codes Council’s (ICC) building code standards for the new cycle. Here’s the problem with that: the ICC is a model code developed with all 50 states in mind, including regulations on snow loads on roofs and earthquake standards. Therefore it is less stringent on key hurricane and storm resilience standards, such as wind loads and roofing attachments. So, the FBC spends months pulling out what doesn’t apply to Florida, reviewing what does, and determining if anything new needs to be added based on recent discoveries — they would do this every cycle. Last cycle, the Florida Building Commission considered more than 600 amendments to the model ICC code.

Progress in policy does not equate to weakness in standards.

Detractors have made outrageous claims suggesting the passage of the Modernization Bill weakens the code, immediately increases insurance rates, and returns the building code to prehurricane Andrew days. Opponents have even pulled and published an un-contextualized quote from 2005 by a deceased Florida Home Builders Association employee to support their position. Here’s the truth. Moving forward, Florida stands strong on the code it currently has in place — as in right now, not pre-Andrew — and the bill requires the FBC to consider the ICC and other national codes during the review cycle.

The bill mandates that the FBC ensure the code is compliant with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Housing and Urban Development, and National Flood Insurance Program standards- something absent from the previous process. The FBC is prohibited from weakening wind-load or water intrusion standards all while maintaining enhanced education and code enforcement. The new process will also provide greater transparency of new code provisions and allows the FBC to be more agile, weighing whether proposed changes benefit Floridians.

Hurricane Irma stands as the true testament that Florida knows how to build strong and safe homes.

We stand with our detractors in the argument that storm resilience is and will continue to be a building code priority. As evident from Irma, while the final analysis of damage is yet to be announced, everyone can agree the majority of homes built using the strict Florida building codes held against Category 4 and 3 winds. The Modernization Bill allows the FBC to stand firm in strict codes and make progress in pursuit of Florida-centric codes.

Jeremy Stewart is president of the Florida Home Builders Association (FHBA).