Wayne County, MI Building Safety: Building Inspections (2026)

Chapter 233 of the Wayne County Code of Ordinances adopts the BOCA National Building Code (13th ed., 1996), BOCA National Fire Prevention Code (10th ed., 1996), National Electrical Code (1996), International Mechanical Code (1996) and International Plumbing Code (1996) as the county's construction codes, under authority of the state Construction Code Act of 1972 (MCL 125.1501 et seq.). Section 233-7(a) puts the director of the buildings division, part of the county Department of Public Services, in charge of administering and enforcing the chapter and every code adopted under it, within county jurisdiction.

Section 233-7(c) sets the inspection process itself: the buildings division "shall receive and review all applications for all required plan reviews and shall conduct all inspections as required by the building, electrical, mechanical, plumbing and fire codes as adopted herein." In practice a project moves through plan review before any inspection is scheduled, and each trade, building, electrical, mechanical, plumbing and fire, is checked against its own adopted code. Section 233-7(d) preserves the authority of local governments to run their own building departments under sections 8 and 9 of the Construction Code Act (MCL 125.1508, 125.1509), which matters here because most of Wayne County's 43 cities and townships, Detroit, Dearborn, Livonia, Canton and the rest, issue their own permits and inspections; the county division's role is narrower wherever a local building department already operates.

Violations of the adopted codes carry the penalty the county wrote into BOCA Section 116.4: a criminal act punishable by up to a $500.00 fine, up to 90 days, or both, per Section 233-1(b)(2). The county intends to update the adopted code editions by ordinance amendment every three years under Section 233-8.