What Our Association
Does for You

The Pennsylvania Builders Association (PBA) provides lobbying and influence in Harrisburg. Any new middle-class home buyer and builder enjoys the protections the PBA provides from poorly constructed building codes and overreaching regulatory legislation. The PBA is the only association fighting to keep housing affordable in western Pennsylvania. PBA's Government Affairs staff and members work with the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code Review and Advisory Council (UCC RAC). The PBA currently has several members on the UCC RAC.

The PBA Government Affairs (GA) dedicated staff and volunteers that concern themselves with those parts of the International Codes, including the International Residential Code, appropriate for Pennsylvania. Their focus is middle-class homes. Some GA members work with the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code Review and Advisory Council (UCC RAC).

The Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code Review and Advisory Council (UCC RAC) is the government board in Harrisburg that selects which parts of the International Codes, including the International Residential Code, are appropriate for Pennsylvania. The PBA currently has several members on the UCC RAC through its PBA Government Affairs (GA) committee.

The Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code (UCC) is current International Residential Code (IRC) plus legislative changes plus changes by the RAC.

In the most recent code review, the PBA successfully kept unnecessary building code requirements out of the residential codebook that would have cost up to $14,000.00 per house. These unnecessary proposed requirements costs removed $3,500.00 for return air ducts, including the cost of plumbing changes, removed a requirement for an additional energy saving upgrade, costing from $500.00 to $1,500.00, and removed a 10 mil plastic requirement sought to replace the existing 6 mil requirement which has been code for many years. The savings cover every trade, but they are mostly focused on energy related requirements where diminishing returns make the payback period 30 plus years.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is performs the functions of the PBA in Washington DC.

The successful 2024 code cycle saved every builder thousands of dollars. However, the PBA cannot control access to its successes, and the organization is forced to give these efforts away, not just to its members, but to the public in general. This is why many builders in Pennsylvania believe PBA will provide these services whether or not they are members.

Many builders don’t even join the PBA because they think they can have the organization's successes for free. The PBA has set itself up for the day when it will no longer be able to fight this regulatory fight for home builders and home buyers. When this happens, the building industries influence on the UCC will cease to exist, giving other interest groups their freedom to champion their agendas causing builders to be unable to build affordable, middle-class housing.

You can control your future through your local builders association. Again, the PBA, is the only association fighting to keep housing affordable in western Pennsylvania. The PBA cannot do its work without you. Everything worth having is worth defending. Be the one who chooses to defend your industry. It’s hard, expensive, and you will have to fight the unknowing, unthinking masses wanting something for nothing. If our industry fails now, it fails forever. Let's not fail.