We recently held our annual Regional CSI Conference, and at that event I heard several times a mantra that I have heard (and said) many times over the past 10-12 years in the construction industry. It is some variation of this:
“Projects are a lot more complicated these days.”
“It’s gotten crazy. They want you to build more, with less- and complete it in 30% less time.”
“The Codes/ requirements are getting insane.”
If you’ve uttered one of these sayings, you might also have asked yourself or others- why is this? Does it have to be this way?
There are plenty of reasons why it is like it is.
There are more investors/ hedge funds/ REIT’s and the like that are trying to monetize and extract every dollar that is possible from every project. More attention to costs, including financing costs and interest. That is one of the main drivers that has resulted in a 15-month project from 10 years ago now expected to be completed in 10-12 months.
Politicians seem to like to pass laws, regulations, and bylaws where they don’t really know how they can be truly implemented, and at what cost. And, who does it really hurt? There are often unintended consequences.
Code cycles: Most codes, like IBC and IRC, are updated every 3 years. And many States now have laws on their books requiring that their State building Code must adopt the most recent IBC/IRC within a year or 2 of said publication. There are 2 issues with that. As a State, they don’t really “have to” adopt the 2021 or 2024 international Codes. They could still use the 2015 (etc) Code if they wanted. So that is their choice- each State. But the larger issue is that naturally each and every 3 years the (international) Code gets more stringent and more complicated to some degree. The people on the various Code subcommittees feel they must upgrade some provisions, in many cases. Perhaps they would feel ashamed to say, “No- all good. We will just keep it all the same,”. So, building codes, energy codes, etc just keep on getting more cumbersome.
With all of these concerns, it is primarily the Architect and the Builder/General Contractor that have to figure it all out and deal with it…. and try to make a few bucks along the way as well. And that is becoming increasingly harder, one could argue.
So commercial and large-scale multi-family projects need to be built faster, with more quality and more paper trails, often with the ongoing trade labor shortfalls that we know exist. A perfect storm!
I’m not sure I have all the answers, so maybe this article is more of a lament.
At the conference we had a continuing education class where we were going through the new 2024 Energy Code requirements and insulation backstops. A seasoned architect in the room asked a question to the speaker, “This all seems a bit crazy. Is anyone going to do all this?”. And the speaker answered, “Well- I guess they have to. They are trying to figure it out as they go,”. That’s an interesting conundrum- especially for architects, engineers, or builders that have been in the business for 30+ years already.
Maybe (??) the States with the more onerous building codes will actually get less construction and development activity, as compared to the areas where things are a bit less progressive or less updated? Not sure, but only time will tell.
Written by Ken Lambert
