ABOUT THIS TOOL

Where they are effective and efficient, building codes administration and enforcement programs stimulate economic competitiveness of their communities and help assure the public’s safety in the buildings in which they live work and play. They have:

• eliminated unnecessary costs and time to the construction process, causing some companies to leave town and locate potential expansions elsewhere

• removed confusion or misunderstanding of the technical requirements of building codes leading to poor construction

• sped up disaster preparedness, response and recovery.

The Alliance’s “Report on the Costs, Savings and the Business Case for Streamlining the Building Regulatory Process Through the Use of Information Technology” provides successful examples of the above and background data to support the savings that are being achieved from state and local governments streamlining their building codes administration and enforcement programs and where appropriate making greater use of information technology (IT).

BENEFITS

Jurisdictions often are at a loss as to where to turn to gather accurate information on ways they can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their building codes administration and enforcement programs. Why use streamlining? What is it? What are the savings and benefits that are being achieved from it? The above report answers these questions and provides elected officials, and those who administer and use building code and public safety programs with a detailed data drawn from a 2005 study conducted by the Alliance on the Cost, Savings and Return on Investment from using IT in the building codes administration and enforcement processes.

SAVINGS TO GOVERNMENT

Immediate savings from using this report are gained from not having to spend time seeking information on the costs and benefits of streamlining and applying IT to codes administration and enforcement processes. The report includes access to officials in jurisdictions who will share their experience with streamlining.

SAVINGS TO PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS

The report provides those who use building code and public safety programs with a detailed information on savings which their counterparts are receiving from the streamlining the building regulatory process in jurisdictions listed in this report.

BACKGROUND

Demands on elected officials and the government agencies they oversee have increased significantly over the past decade. Both the public and private sectors are demanding that governments provide services more effectively, efficiently and at a lower cost. Moreover, they are demanding that their state or locality be able to provide more affordable housing, stimulate economic competitiveness and in the aftermath of 9-11 and Katrina be able to better respond to and more rapidly recover from natural and manmade disasters.

New construction and renovation of existing buildings are vital components of the nation’s economy and are critical to ensuring the welfare and safety of the American public. In this time of heightened security and increased construction, building departments are faced with growing workload and the daunting challenges of meeting the raised expectations of both the public and private sectors of offering more services online 24/7/365.

Available for downloading from the Alliance’s website, this report was generated to enable jurisdictions to consider the benefits of evaluating and where necessary, restructuring their programs to make them more effective and efficient and considering the application of information technology to improve the timeliness and quality of their services.

EXAMPLES OF APPLICATION AND JURISDICTION CONTACTS SUMMARY

Ventura County, California - (population 754,000) over 6 years saved over $1 million in costs and three staff positions by streamlining their codes administration and enforcement process and applying information technology to their permit issuing and inspection processes. Contact: Jim MacDonald, Building Official; Phone: 805-654-2787; Email: Jim.macdonald@Ventura.org