Page 12 RAIN February/March 1976 The OwnerBuilder and THE CODE Agricultural building development around code approved core unit. The Owner-Builder and THE CODE, Ken Kern, Ted ~ogon and Rob Thallon, 1976, $5 from: Owner-Builder Publications P.O. Box 550 Oakhurst, CA 93664 The Code covers the art of owner-building and of dealing with the codes- how to build a code-approved dog house to get the electric company to hook you up- then wire your non-code house yourself. Or build a one-room cabin, and slowly add carports, walls, decks and sheds that eventually evolve into a much larger house. It also covers the efforts of United Stand, residents of Mendocino County, California, whose homes were red-tagged for demolition and who have since spear-headed efforts at code revision. California is now in the process of developing a new rural building code and health code to permit more sensible and economical homes and sewage systems which is likely to trigger similar changes in other states. The Code doc~men_ts. the big first step in those changes and will be useful m ass1stmg elsewhere. Building codes in this country have enraged almost eve~y person who has had the audacity (or wisdom) to try to build his own home. They also represent major hidden costs for everyone who buys a new home. The Owner-Builder and the Code documents the origins of present codes in the selfinterests of building groups. Fire insurance companies were successful in their efforts to prescribe fire safety standards for all major building construction throughout the country. They were so successful, in fact, that other self-interest groups were soon to detect the advantage of legislative controls on building construction. In 1927, a group calling themselves "building officials" (made up for the most part of building materials suppliers and manufacturers, labor organizers, and other building professionals) came together to prepare and to sponsor legislative enactment of the Uniform Building Code. (pp. 15-16) It continues to outline many of the absurdities and costs resulting from present codes: excess finance costs, impossible procedures, outlawing simple living. Consider, for a moment, the hassle a New York architect must go through before he can expect approval for a housing project in that city. Plans must first be submitted to and approved by the following offices: the New York City Administrative Code, the New York State and the New York City Zoning Resolution, the FHA Minimum Property Standards, the New York State Division of Housing Regulations, the Housing Redevelopment Board of Regulations, the Public Housing Administration Regulation, and the Community Facilities Administration Regulation. The architect must then seek acceptance for his project in accordance with the Plumbing Code, the Elevator Code, the Electrical Code, and FHA Rehabilitations Standards. Finally, after compliance with all of the requirements of these agencies, . the architect must secure final approval of his plans and specifications from the Department of Sewers, the Department of
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