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Multimedia 

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Unintended Consequences • February 13, 2025 

# Who Builds the Building Code? 

Should your home have a sprinkler system installed? Well, the organization likely responsible for your local building code thinks so. But mandating sprinklers in every single family home would be expensive, and this wouldn’t be the first time that regulators failed to account for costs and tradeoffs sufficiently. Join Paul Matzko and Peter Van Doren for a closer look at an organization you’ve never heard of, the International Code Council, which significantly influences what gets built in America today.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

[![Paul Matzko](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Paul%20Matzko.jpg?itok=CSzwMD2U)](/people/paul-matzko) 

##### [Paul Matzko](/people/paul-matzko)

Adjunct Scholar, Cato Institute

[![Peter Van Doren](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Peter%20Van%20Doren.jpg?itok=H1lphT-7)](/people/peter-van-doren) 

##### [Peter Van Doren](/people/peter-van-doren)

Senior Fellow and Editor of *Regulation*

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](mailto:pvandoren@cato.org)