Small Firm Forum: Most Common Code Reviews during Permit Reviews

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

This month’s meeting will be a presentation and discussion on “The Most Common Code Review Comments” for Residential and Small Commercial Projects. The presenter will be Mr. Rick Dandan, a building code professional with over 16 years of experience in code enforcement, plan reviews, inspections, zoning and regulatory interpretation.  He currently serves as the General Manager of Lakeside Consultants, where he manages national operations and provides advisory and expert witness services for public and private sector clients.  Rick is passionate about education and knowledge-sharing within the design and construction community and enjoys working directly with architects to help streamline permitting and avoid common issues during code review.  Attendees should come prepared with their questions during the open discussion portion of the meeting. If you think the SFF is, has and can continue to be a positive component to your practice, please join us for presentation and discussion session.

Learning Objectives: upon completion, participants will be able to

1. Identify most common and repetitive code review items from permit plan reviews.
2. Implement the latest code requirements that architects need to be familiar with starting in 2026 as municipalities adopt more current code requirements.
3. Analyze common code compliance items with respect to current energy standards and regulations regarding insulation, air barrier, and life/safety requirements.
4. Differentiate between and apply local, state, and international code requirements especially between suburban and Chicago requirements.

CE: 1 LU | HSW (pending approval)