The Division of Building Standards and Codes (BSC), Codes Division, administers the mandatory statewide Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code (Uniform Code). This includes the 2020 Building Code of New York State (BCNYS / Part 1221 of 19 CRR-NY/ published November 2019) and the 2020 Residential Code of New York State (RCNYS / Part 1220 of 19 CRR-NY / published November 2019).
BSC oversees and supports the code enforcement in local governments. Primary responsibility for enforcing the Uniform Code is with the cities, towns, villages and counties of the State. While building construction standards are uniform throughout the state, municipal programs for enforcing the standards are not required to be uniform, as long as they meet minimum standards (19 NYCRR Part 1203).
BSC welcomes input to improve the Uniform Code and proposed changes can be submitted to Dos.sm.codes.codedevelopment@dos.ny.gov (include “Code Change:” in the subject line, followed by a short description of the change).
Building Code Compliance Software for New York
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 2018 IBC and Plan Analyst for the 2018 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 New York have included:
City of Corning | Angerame Architects PC |
Suffolk County Public Works | Carmelhill Architects |
Town of Dix | Hawkins Webb Jaeger |
Town of Fulton | James H Tanner Architects |
Town of Lockport | Meehan Architects |
Town of Livonia | Peter L. Morse & Associates |
Town of Oneonta | Spring Line Design, LLP |
Building and Residential Code Resources in New York
- New York State Building Officials Conference
- Buy the New York 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 New York
Visit the U.S. Department of Energy website to see the latest on energy code adoption in New York, 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.
DOE’s EnergyPlus™ is a whole building energy simulation (BEM) program that engineers, architects, and researchers use to model both energy consumption (for heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting and plug and process loads) and water use in buildings. It supports a number of public and private-sector tools and services including EP3. EP3 is a user interface for EnergyPlus™ designed to streamline workflows for building energy modelers. EP3 is well-suited for tasks like modeling ASHRAE 90.1 Appendix G baselines and evaluating energy efficiency measures in new and existing buildings.
The “Building Codes Assistance Project” also provides information on New York’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. New York is in FEMA Region 2. Read the 2024 Region 2 fact sheet showing the annual metric of the percent of communities adopting hazard-resistant building codes in New York.
AIA and ICC
American Institute of Architects – AIA New York represents architects in the state. There are around 18,000 registered and reciprocal architects in New York.
New York has ICC Chapters throughout the State.
New York code adoption status on the ICC website