Michigan will finally update old home building codes. See you in court, builders say

LANSING, MI — Michigan is poised to implement building codes requiring new homes make significant jumps in energy efficiency and finally modernizing rules that date back a decade — if they survive a legal attack from builders.

The new residential building and energy codes advanced automatically on Tuesday, April 22, after a committee of lawmakers missed a deadline to intervene.

Read more: Michigan forges ahead with modernizing 10-year-old building codes amid industry pushback

But the codes face one last hurdle as they near the finish line of the bureaucratic adoption process that has already dragged on for more than three years. Homebuilders have pledged to sue the state to block them before they go into effect this summer, teeing up the potential of even more delays.

Proponents, including a coalition of environmental groups, hail the new codes as a major win for the climate that will save homeowners hundreds every year on utility bills.

But builders have raised a stink over what they say are rigid requirements in the codes that stunt innovation and threaten to increase the upfront cost of a new home by $15,000 in the midst of an affordability crisis.

“The state has suggested we need a code book that is essentially ‘Building for Dummies’ because there are so many prescriptive things that you have to do,” said Bob Filka, CEO of the Home Builders Association of Michigan, which has cast the codes as an “unnecessary tax on housing.”

The association has started the process of taking the state of Michigan to court and expects to do so officially in the coming weeks. In the past, legal backlash from the residential building industry has led to years of delays in getting new codes on the books.

The new rules govern aspects of design and construction of new and heavily renovated homes. They ensure safety and set bare minimum standards for materials like insulation, windows and heating and cooling equipment that can make a big difference in a home’s power and gas bills.

Michigan bases its building standards on a set of model codes released every three years by an international body. The state’s current residential codes date back to the group’s 2015 update and were weakened when adopted in Michigan.

The state proposed jumping forward to 2021 model codes, boosting home efficiency about 11% in one of the biggest improvements in years.

A federal analysis showed in the first year alone the new codes could save Michiganders over $7.2 million in energy costs and wipe out 44,850 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to taking nearly 10,000 cars off the road for a year.

That made them popular with environmentalists, who see updating codes as an obscure but impactful way to fight climate change. Even with greater upfront costs, in the long-run, they save homeowners substantial cash, some $396 a month per the federal study, they argue.

“As boring as they may sound, Michigan’s new building codes are a huge win for Michigan’s homeowners, workers and the environment,” said Carlee Knott, energy and policy manager for the Michigan Environmental Council. “They’ll keep energy costs down, they’ll keep indoor and outdoor air cleaner, and they’ll make homes more resilient and comfortable no matter the weather.”

Michigan has adopted the 2021 suite of codes for commercial buildings, as well as its plumbing and mechanical standards. The residential standards are the last holdout.

But across the country, homebuilders have successfully blocked or watered down more eco-friendly code updates in recent years. Requirements for thicker insulation and certain types of framing in the 2021 codes are inflexible and primarily benefit materials manufacturers, while juicing home prices, they argue.

In Michigan, the builders’ lobby says it isn’t opposed to a code update altogether but wants the state to skip to the newest model standards. These were released in 2024 after Michigan started its update process.

They offer even greater efficiency gains with added flexibility, via a points-based system for compliance with multiple pathways, Filka said.

Officials with the Michigan Bureau of Construction Codes say they recognize many in the industry favor updating to the 2024 codes, and they intend to do so. But officials claim they must first close the book on adopting the 2021 edition and can’t make a last-minute switch.

“Swapping out the year 2021 in the rules for 2024 requires a lot of work of the analysis of that entire code,” said the bureau’s Director Andrew Brisbo, noting the state also takes extensive input on any code changes. “It’s not quite as simple as just changing the year within our ruleset.”

Read more: Eco-friendly building codes are years behind in Michigan. What’s taking so long?

Beyond concerns over that slowdown, Michigan law requires the residential codes be updated every three to six years. Some claim the state has already blown by that deadline, since the current set of codes were adopted in 2015.

But Brisbo said the law leaves exactly when the clock starts and stops up to interpretation, noting the state started the current update process within the allotted time window.

The law is meant to align with the release of the international model codes every three years, he said. The state decided to skip the 2018 update but committed to the 2021 model codes. “Part of it is our honest efforts to comply with both the letter and the spirit of the law and not allowing that to lag for too long,” Brisbo said.

The state’s refusal to jump to the 2024 codes amounts to “legal fiction,” Filka said, and the builders disagree that putting the 2021 codes in place first is required. Brisbo declined to address specific homebuilder claims, given the potential for legal action.

In recent months, homebuilders and other building professionals have urged the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, a bipartisan group of state representatives and senators in Lansing, to vote on sending the building codes back to the state — and demand the 2024 ones instead.

Meanwhile, some local code officials, electrical inspectors and environmental advocates testified in support of the pending update, urging the state to ditch outdated codes as quickly as possible for safety reasons and to benefit homeowners.

Some Republicans on the committee expressed support for moving directly to the 2024 codes. But on Tuesday, Democrats didn’t attend a scheduled meeting, leaving the committee without the requisite number of attendees to take a vote.

The residential codes automatically advanced because 15 “session days” with both the Michigan House and Senate in session had elapsed since they were filed with the committee this year.

They’ll soon be filed with the Secretary of State and after that point go into effect in 120 days, according to Brisbo.

But Filka said the homebuilders will ask for a court order preventing implementation while their legal dispute advances.

“Let’s be one of the first states in the country to adopt the ’24 code and be a leader,” he said. “Instead, we’re a laggard.”

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