Missouri building code plan review: city and county codes under state law, the Division of Fire Safety’s facility, elevator, and boiler rules, and state buildings

Which Missouri codes apply to a set of drawings?

Missouri leaves the building code to local government. The Division of Fire Safety’s FAQ says Missouri does not have a statewide fire code, that fire and building codes are adopted at the local level, and that state regulations reach most licensed day cares, nursing homes, and other state-licensed facilities, so it tells owners to contact the local jurisdiction for the adopted codes. Under RSMo 67.280, a county, fire protection district, or municipality that has the power to adopt a code may incorporate a published code by reference, identified by date and source, after keeping a copy on file with its clerk for 90 days, and the ordinance must state its own penalty. Under RSMo 64.170 the county commission of a county of the first or second classification may adopt regulations for the construction, alteration, and repair of buildings and their electrical wiring and plumbing, issue building permits, and license electrical contractors, but a county that had not adopted a building code before August 28, 2001 needs voter approval in the area affected, and incorporated territory does not vote on a county code. RSMo 64.180 has a county building commission prepare the code, requires the county commission to hold at least three public hearings before adopting it, and applies it to unincorporated territory, RSMo 64.196 requires a county creating or amending a code after August 28, 2001 to adopt a current, calendar year 1999 or later edition of a nationally recognized building code and bars any conflict with LP-gas installations governed by RSMo 323.020, and RSMo 64.190 says those sections do not apply to a city of more than 120,000 inhabitants. Under RSMo 321.220(12) a fire protection district may adopt fire protection and fire prevention ordinances, but not to regulate or permit farm buildings or farm structures. RSMo 67.281 requires a builder of one- or two-family dwellings or townhouses to offer the purchaser fire sprinklers at the purchaser’s cost, bars any local code from denying the purchaser the choice to decline, and requires a political subdivision that adopts the 2009 or a later IRC without the mandatory sprinklers of Section R313 to keep the language of Section R317 of the 2006 IRC for two-family dwellings (R317.1) and townhouses (R317.2).

Editions therefore come from each local ordinance, and the state’s energy office does not set one. The Department of Natural Resources’ Energy Codes by Jurisdiction page points to county and city building code lists on the State of Missouri Data Portal, says they show the general code adopted without amendments or trade codes, and tells readers to confirm with the jurisdiction; those lists were not read for this guide. As a local example, the City of St. Louis’s Building Codes Adopted by the City page lists the 2018 IBC, IEBC, IRC, IECC, IPMC, IFC, IMC, and IFGC, each with a date adopted of 08-01-18, the 2021 Uniform Plumbing Code (Ordinance 71644, adopted 02-20-2023), and the 2017 NEC (Ordinance 70802, 08-01-18). The ordinance records do not match that date: Ordinance 70794 (2018 IBC, with Appendices E, F, G, H, I, and J) and Ordinance 70799 (2018 IECC) show effective 07/06/2018, and Ordinance 71063, which amended the 2018 IECC effective 01/23/2020, is not on the codes page, so cite the ordinance numbers and confirm the effective dates with the Building Division. Kansas City’s Building and Rehabilitation Code page refused automated reading for this guide, so no Kansas City edition is stated here; confirm it with City Planning and Development. We found no statewide plumbing, mechanical, electrical, or energy code for private buildings in the statutes and agency pages read. All checked November 7, 2026.

The state codes that do exist are tied to building types. The Division of Fire Safety’s elevator page says each elevator within the Missouri Elevator Safety Act must be registered, inspected annually by a state-licensed inspector, and tested to A17.1, and that the division issues an installation or alteration permit after reviewing and approving the plans, with exceptions to that plan review for units in municipalities that contract with St. Louis County and for all units in Kansas City. 11 CSR 40-5.050 (last amended effective April 30, 2020 in the posted rule) requires new elevator equipment to be built and installed to ASME A17.1 (2016), ASME A18.1 (2014) for platform lifts and stairway chairlifts, ASME A17.2 (2014), ANSI A90.1 (2015), ANSI A10.4 (2016), and ANSI/SIA A92.10 (2009), and under the same chapter the installing contractor applies for the permit with detailed plans and specifications, and no plan review is conducted unless a state-licensed elevator contractor submits it; ask the division whether a later amendment applies. The boiler and pressure vessel page says boilers, water heaters, and pressure vessels within the act have had to be built to the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code and registered with the National Board since November 12, 1986, with exemptions such as residences of fewer than six families, and that installers must get a division installation permit before installing them.

Licensed care facilities have state reviewers. The Fire Safety Inspection Unit inspects assisted living and residential care facilities, child day care facilities, residential youth facilities, and mental health group homes; the DFS FAQ says there is no state requirement for an annual inspection of facilities that the Department of Health and Senior Services, the Department of Mental Health, or the Department of Social Services do not regulate. For assisted living and residential care facilities, its long-term care page says the owner applies to the Department of Health and Senior Services, submits a set of plans to DHSS for approval by its engineering staff, and is then inspected each year by the unit under the rules and the applicable sections of NFPA 101 (2000), and that since January 1, 2013 facilities housing more than 20 residents need an NFPA 13 sprinkler system and a complete fire alarm system. For child care, its child care page says family day care homes, group day care homes, child care centers, and license-exempt centers must submit plans to the unit for approval before opening, get a framing and wiring inspection before walls are closed, and pass a final inspection, under the DHSS child care rules it lists (19 CSR 30-60, 30-61, and 30-62); those rules were not read for this guide. For hospitals and other licensed health care facilities, confirm plan review with DHSS.

State buildings follow the Office of Administration. RSMo 8.110 has the Division of Facilities Management, Design and Construction (FMDC) supervise the design, construction, renovation, maintenance, and repair of state facilities, other than those of higher education institutions and the highways and transportation and conservation commissions, and requires its director to ensure those facilities comply with the designated building codes; under RSMo 8.310 the conservation department, universities, colleges, and community colleges may contract for their own design and construction. FMDC’s Design Guidelines (revised 08/13, 01/14, and 06/17), posted on its Designer’s Information Packet page, call themselves suggestive only, but say projects shall be designed to the latest edition of the codes and standards of the 2010 ADA Standards, the IBC, NEC, IMC, IPC, NFPA 101, ASHRAE 90.1, ASME, ANSI, ACI, and SMACNA, plus the state boiler and elevator programs, and send significant differences between local codes and the current International Codes to the local authority and then the division director. Its Designer’s Information Packet (revised 01/13) says local codes, zoning, and permits do not apply to construction on state property, that plans should still go to local governments during design for information only, without requesting approval or paying fees, and that off-site work such as utility connections needs local approvals. Do not read “latest edition” as a locally adopted edition; ask the FMDC project manager which editions the project uses.

Statutes add accessibility and energy rules for public money. RSMo 8.610 applies RSMo 8.610 to 8.650 to parks, rest areas, parking, curbs, sidewalks, public accommodations, and buildings for public use and assembly built, renovated, bought, or leased in whole or in part with state or political subdivision funds. RSMo 8.622 makes the specifications most recently published by ANSI the accessibility standard for all state renovation and new construction and for new construction by a political subdivision, RSMo 8.620 lets a political subdivision renovating a building choose the ANSI specifications or the section’s own walk, ramp, door, and toilet room specifications, and under RSMo 8.650 only the commissioner of administration, after consulting the Governor’s Council on Disability, may approve a deviation on the owner’s application. FMDC’s guidelines list the 2010 ADA Standards rather than ANSI, so record both bases for a state project. For energy, RSMo 8.810 requires a design professional’s life cycle cost analysis and a projection of energy savings for construction or substantial renovation of a state building involving major energy systems, and RSMo 8.812 and 8.837 require state buildings over 5,000 square feet whose design began on or after July 1, 2009 to meet a minimum standard, set by rule, at least as stringent as the 2006 IECC or the latest version, with exemptions the commissioner may grant for safety or cost; the rule itself was not read, so confirm its edition with FMDC. Private buildings remain subject to federal accessibility law. Permit routing is on the Missouri page, and the model codes have their own guides: IBC, IRC, IECC, UPC, NFPA 70, and NFPA 101.

Gather the local ordinance, the building type, and the state program documents

Collect the cover sheet and code analysis with every code and edition cited, the occupancy, construction type, area, height, and occupant loads, the life safety plan with exits, rated assemblies, and sprinkler and alarm coverage, the accessibility plans and details, the plumbing, mechanical, and electrical drawings and notes, the energy compliance documents, the elevator and platform lift drawings and specifications, the boiler, water heater, and pressure vessel schedules, and the specifications.

Add whether the site is inside city limits or in unincorporated county territory, the county’s classification and whether it has adopted a code, the fire protection district, the city or county ordinance numbers and adopted editions, whether the project is a child care, assisted living, or residential care facility, a state building or a project built with state or political subdivision funds, and, for houses, the builder’s sprinkler offer. Read the statutes on the Revisor of Statutes site, the Division of Fire Safety’s program pages, and the local ordinance from the city or county.

Trace the governing code and the state programs through the set

Life safety documents continue in the NFPA 101 guide, sprinkler and alarm documents in the NFPA 13, NFPA 13D, and NFPA 72 guides and the fire alarm drawing checklist, elevators and lifts in the ASME A17.1 and ASME A18.1 guides, boilers in the heating boiler specifications guide, accessible details in the ICC A117.1 and ADA Standards guides and the accessibility checklist, energy in the IECC and ASHRAE 90.1 guides, and the full set in the architectural drawing checklist. Neighboring state codes are in the Illinois guide, the Iowa guide, the Kentucky guide, the Tennessee guide, the Arkansas guide, the Oklahoma guide, and the Nebraska guide.

Example: a child care center with a new elevator in a town without a building code

Hypothetical example. A church plans to convert part of its two-level building into a child care center in a small Missouri town that has not adopted a building code, outside any county code. The architect’s code analysis cites the 2024 IBC as “the Missouri state building code,” the drawings add a new passenger elevator between the levels specified to an older ASME A17.1 edition, the schedule has the general contractor installing the elevator and closing the walls without any state submittal, and the opening date is set before the owner has contacted the Division of Fire Safety.

Missouri has no statewide building or fire code, so the 2024 IBC is a design basis the team chose, not an adopted state code; record it as such and confirm with the town and county that no local code applies. Child care centers, including license-exempt centers, must submit plans to the Division of Fire Safety’s Fire Safety Inspection Unit for approval before opening, with a framing and wiring inspection before the walls are closed and a final inspection. The elevator needs a division installation permit issued after plan review, applied for by a state-licensed elevator contractor with detailed plans and specifications, and 11 CSR 40-5.050 requires new elevator equipment to meet ASME A17.1 (2016). Confirm the plan submittal, the elevator permit and edition, and the inspection sequence with the division and DHSS child care licensing.

The architect relabels the code basis, the owner submits the child care plans to the Fire Safety Inspection Unit and schedules the framing and wiring inspection, a licensed elevator contractor applies for the installation permit with the 2016 A17.1 edition, and the opening date moves to follow the final inspection. The finding is a citation and sequence conflict; the Division of Fire Safety and DHSS decide compliance.

Review a Missouri set with Groundbook

Upload the current drawings and specifications to Groundbook, and state the edition, amendments, and review scope in your instructions. Missouri statutes are free on the Revisor of Statutes site, the Division of Fire Safety posts its program requirements and the elevator rule, FMDC posts its design guidelines, and cities such as St. Louis post their ordinances. Upload the city or county ordinance, the fire protection district ordinance, the RSMo sections that apply, 11 CSR 40-5 for elevators and lifts, and for a state building the FMDC guidelines as code files, with the IBC, IRC, IECC, plumbing code, NEC, NFPA 101, and ASME standards the project relies on from copies you are licensed to use where the license permits uploading them. See how Groundbook works with local and licensed codes.

Compare the cover sheet, code analysis, life safety plan, and every discipline’s general notes with the architectural, plumbing, mechanical, electrical, fire protection, conveying, energy, and accessibility documents. Flag model code editions that differ from the local ordinance in my instructions, any statement that a model code is Missouri’s state building code, licensed care facilities with no Division of Fire Safety or DHSS plan submittal, elevators or platform lifts without a state installation permit or on editions other than those in the supplied 11 CSR 40-5.050, boilers without an installation permit, publicly funded work without the ANSI accessibility basis RSMo 8.622 names, and state buildings without the FMDC code list and energy analysis. Use the supplied ordinances, statutes, rules, and model codes and cite both sources.

Groundbook compares the set with reference documents you upload, including licensed codes and standards you hold, and links each potential finding to the note or sheet and to the Missouri statute, rule, ordinance, guideline, or model code. It has no built-in library of licensed codes, runs no calculations, and does not design anything. It does not decide which local code governs a site, whether a facility needs state licensure, or which edition a state building uses; each finding is a question for the responsible design professional.

Document review does not certify compliance, issue a permit or plan approval, or replace the design professional, the city or county building official, the fire protection district, the Division of Fire Safety, the Department of Health and Senior Services, or FMDC.