Why So Many Codes?

We keep saying we want affordable housing in the U.S. But if that’s true, why do our building codes act more like roadblocks than green lights? 

Look north. Canada runs on the National Building Code. Provinces make a few tweaks, but the foundation stays consistent coast to coast. A builder can take the same house from Halifax to Calgary without rewriting the rulebook every hundred miles. It’s like driving the Trans-Canada Highway: long, predictable, and direct. Less confusion. Less wasted time. Lower cost. 

Now look at us. In the U.S., we’ve turned housing into a patchwork quilt of codes stitched together county by county. Some places cling to 2015, others to 2018, a few to 2021 or 2024. Sometimes, two counties in the same state demand two different wall assemblies. It’s like driving cross-country and hitting a toll booth at every county line — each one demanding a different car inspection before you can keep going. Builders spend fortunes just to stay legal, not to stay innovative. 

Yes, Canada’s market is smaller — only about a tenth the size of the U.S. And no, it doesn’t have the scorching deserts of Arizona or the swamps of Florida. But Canada still builds in climates that mirror much of our northern U.S., and their system proves a point: a national framework saves money, time, and sanity. 

Of course, codes aren’t the only driver of affordability. Interest rates, land costs, labor shortages, and supply chain shocks all matter. But codes are the one lever we actually control. Right now, our fractured system is quietly adding thousands of dollars per house just to be compliant. 

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: the U.S. doesn’t have a technology problem. We already have the materials and systems to build better, faster, and cheaper. What we have is a policy problem. A code alignment problem. And until we fix it, affordability will stay just out of reach for the very families we say we want to help. 

So let’s ask it plainly: why are we tolerating a system that makes housing harder and more expensive to build — when the fix is right in front of us?