Steel Building Codes by State

Codes in the United States are written once and adopted many times. The International Code Council publishes model codes; a state adopts an edition, often with amendments; a local jurisdiction may adopt later, adopt a different edition, or amend further. The document that governs your building is the edition your jurisdiction has adopted, as amended, on the date your permit is reviewed. That is why a general answer about steel building codes is almost always wrong in the specific.

Underneath the code sits the load standard. ASCE/SEI 7 supplies the design wind, snow, seismic and load-combination criteria that the adopted code references, and the referenced edition matters as much as the code edition. A building engineered to one edition's wind mapping is not automatically compliant under another.

Until that record exists for a state, its code page explains how adoption works in that state and routes the reader to the authority having jurisdiction. It does not print a wind speed, a snow load, a seismic category or a code edition, because an out-of-date regulatory number is worse than no number at all.

1. Which code edition is currently adopted for this address, and are there local amendments that change it?
2. Which edition of the referenced load standard applies, and what design wind speed, exposure category, ground snow load and seismic design category should the engineer use for this site?
3. Is a sealed design and a foundation design by a licensed engineer required for this occupancy and size?
4. What must the permit submittal contain, and which inspections hold the work?
5. Are there local requirements outside the building code — zoning, setbacks, stormwater, fire access, or a design review — that change the footprint or the elevation?