The State of Illinois has not adopted a statewide building code for residential construction. Local government have authority to adopt and enforce building codes. For privately funded commercial construction, the State law for minimum requirements for building codes is via Public Act 101-369, which amends Compiled Statute 20 ILCS 3105/10.09-1. Rather than a statewide building code, each municipality has the option to adopt a model code, or by default, accept the model codes required by the Act. The Act is effective from December 15, 2019
The 2019 Chicago Building Code (Title 14B) is based on the 2018 International Building Code (IBC).
Building Code Compliance Software for Illinois
Plan Analyst code compliance software programs make it easy for building officials, architects and other designers to quickly perform commercial and residential building code plan reviews / code studies. Plan Analyst for the IBC and Plan Analyst for the IRC simplifies the plan review / code study process enabling compliance to specific code years. This proven software allows modifications to accommodate local amendments, where applicable. Users have the ability to add code requirements and to add to the checklist. Changes can be made permanent by changing the data file using the setup section of Plan Analyst, or specific reports can be edited for special conditions.
Plan Analyst Calculators: Deck – Sign – Beam & Column
Plan Analyst Deck, Sign and Beam & Column Calculators are additional simple and effective design and code review software tools that will quickly become your go-to resources when working on associated tasks.
Users of Plan Analyst in Illinois have included:
| City of Aledo | Arete 3 Ltd. |
| City of Champaign | Arzoumanian & Company |
| City of Moline | Barrie Scott Associates |
| City of Rockford | BLDD Architects, Inc. |
| City of Wilmington | Gleason Architects, PC |
| Lake County | New Era Signs, Inc. |
| Will County | OSF HealthCare |
| Village of Berkeley | Sarchris Technologies |
| Village of Gurnee | Shive-Hattery, Inc. |
Building and Residential Code Resources in Illinois
- Illinois Council of Code Administrators
- Sterling Codifiers access to codes adopted by Illinois municipalities (where available)
- Buy the Illinois I-Codes from ICC
- Buy the Chicago I-Codes from ICC
- Purchase Plan Analyst for the IBC and or IRC to automate and simplify your plan reviews / code studies plananalyst.com.
- The ICC General Code website provides access to some municipal codes.
Energy Code Compliance Software for Illinois
Visit the U.S. Department of Energy website to see the latest on energy code adoption in Illinois, including the use of COMcheck and REScheck Energy Code compliance software. COMcheck enables architects, builders, designers, and contractors to determine whether new commercial or high-rise residential buildings, additions, and alterations meet the requirements of the IECC and ASHRAE Standard 90.1. REScheck product enables builders, designers, and contractors to determine whether new homes, additions, and alterations meet the requirements of the IECC or a number of state energy codes.
The “Building Codes Assistance Project” also provides information on Illinois’s building energy codes.
FEMA Building Code Adoption Tracking
The FEMA Building Code Adoption Tracking program reports on the status of hazard-resistant building code adoption in each state. Illinois is in FEMA Region 5. Read the 2023 Region 5 fact sheet showing the annual metric of the percent of communities adopting hazard-resistant building codes in Illinois.
AIA and ICC
American Institute of Architects – AIA Illinois represents architects in the state. There are just over 9,000 registered and reciprocal architects in Illinois .
Illinois has several ICC Chapters throughout the state.
Illinois code adoption status on the ICC website