Builders Say Deconstructing ‘Green’ Building Codes Will Lower New Housing Costs

A Kansas City construction company owner told a House panel that ‘well-intentioned federal policies’ have ’very real and negative effects’ on Main Street USA.

Construction workers install a roof at a new home build in Laveen, Ariz., on April 1, 2025. Ross D. Franklin/AP Photo

Masons laid the concrete foundation from “bare dirt” in 39 days and laborers were ready to frame and roof the skeletal superstructure so carpenters, plumbers, and electricians could complete the single-family home.

All that remained was approval of an “interior remodel,” a slight variation from the permit issued months earlier by the Kansas City Planning and Development Department’s Permits Division.