California Building Code
The State of California has adopted the 2022 California Building Code, effective January 1, 2023. All building permit applications submitted after that date must show that the work covered will comply with the 2022 California Building Code. There are also 2022 California Residential, Electrical, Mechanica,l and Plumbing codes.
The California Building Code, hereafter referred to as the CBC, or the State Code, applies to all new construction, all alterations and repairs and any remodels, EXCEPT for projects of very minor scope. These exceptions are outlined in the Code.
The California Building Code is State law, just like the Traffic Code or the Tax Code. Violations of the code carry fines and, potentially, criminal penalties. Work done without a permit must be brought into conformance with the code under a building permit or, if it cannot be brought into compliance, must be removed at the property owner's expense.
The California Building Code is administered by the local jurisdictions: cities, counties and districts. The enforcement within cities and counties is the responsibility of the Building Official, who is usually an appointed civil servant. The Building Official may also be the Chief Building Inspector and usually has an office staff, including plan checkers and clerical workers plus one or more field inspectors. There may be separate electrical and plumbing inspectors, depending upon the size of the department.
Local jurisdictions may pass local ordinances making requirements for construction more strict than what is already required by State Code, but these ordinances cannot reduce any of the requirements of the State Code.
The State Code updates the requirements for designs to resist wind and seismic forces with each new version of the code. The result of these updates is that many, if not most, of the buildings in California built prior to 2008 are now non-conforming and any work on them may require reinforcement of the structural systems.
The State Code also effectively eliminated the conventional construction provisions for two story wood-framed residential buildings in most of Northern California. As a result, the number of projects which will require an architect or engineer of record has increased, as has the number of projects which will require soils reports before a permit can be issued. This is good news for architects and engineers, but bad news for property owners.
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