Depends on: Native BIM compliance Machine-readable building codes
Related: Plan check (plan review) Rework Egress (means of egress)
Why it matters
The alternative treats compliance as an event: a code review before a deadline, a plan check after submission, each one a snapshot that starts going stale immediately. Continuous compliance treats it like cost or structural performance, a property of the design that is always current. The design questions do not change; what changes is when you find out.
Often confused with
- Permit review. Permit review is a milestone event conducted by the AHJ after submission. Continuous compliance happens during design, on the design team’s side, and does not replace the AHJ’s review.
- Model checking. Model checking (clash detection, BIM QA rules) validates model quality and coordination. Continuous compliance evaluates the design against regulation. A clean model can still be a non-compliant building.
Common question
Does continuous compliance replace permit review?
No. The AHJ still reviews and approves the project. What changes is what arrives at plan check: a design that has already been evaluated against the governing code, which means fewer corrections and shorter correction cycles.