The Department of Buildings will begin to enforce the new electrical code and smoke and carbon monoxide detection requirements. The updated requirements, which were adopted by the city council last fall, will be applied to projects with permit fee deposits paid on or after March 1, 2018.

Expedite Permit Reviews

To expedite permit reviews and simplify field inspections of your upcoming project, the Department requests that you include the following:

2018 ELECTRICAL CODE

in bold 24-point type on (1) the cover sheet of drawings to which the new requirements will apply; and (2) the first sheet of electrical drawings to which the new requirements will apply. A copy of the submitted project may be returned to you at the pre-screen stage if fails to comply with the Buildings Department’s requests.

Ensure You’re Compliant

You can search when the permit fee deposit was paid for a specific permit application in your online account. Chicago’s amendments to the National Electrical Code are already available in the online version of the Municipal Code, Title 14E. For frequent users of the Chicago Electrical Code, a copy of the 2016 National Electrical Code incorporating all of Chicago’s amendments may be purchased from NFPA.