Critical Examination and Ongoing Inspection Program. Frequency turns on cladding category:

• Category I (non-corrodible metal): critical exam every 12th year, ongoing inspection every 6th.
• Category II (corrosion-resistant or protected corrodible metal): critical every 8th year, ongoing every 4th.
• Category III (corrodible metal): critical every 4th year, ongoing every 2nd.
• Category IV (adhesive bond or masonry headers): critical every 8th year, ongoing every 4th.

Ongoing Inspection and Repair “Short Form Only” Program. A visual, non-close-up inspection every two years, with no further critical exams unless the facade is found unsafe and imminently hazardous. A building qualifies after completing a critical exam — unless it is vacant and subject to registration, is subject to an active case, outstanding order of compliance or consent decree before the Department of Administrative Hearings or the Circuit Court of Cook County, was classified unsafe and imminently hazardous in its most recent report, or the owner is more than one year delinquent in filing a Short Form report. New buildings may enter Short Form directly by completing an ongoing inspection within two years of initial occupancy.

Two things boards routinely get wrong

1. The amenity deck needs a scaffold drop. A critical exam requires a close-up hands-on inspection from suspended scaffold of at least one representative section spanning at least 24 feet in width on each elevation above a public way — and “public way” is not just streets, alleys, sidewalks, rights of way and parks. It includes private areas regularly used by occupants: rooftop terraces, amenity decks, and uncovered parking areas.

Boards budget for the street elevations and are surprised by the courtyard and the roof deck.

2. One “unsafe” classification ejects you from the cheap path. A building on the biennial Short Form programme that receives an unsafe and imminently hazardous classification goes back to full critical examinations — a swing of tens of thousands of dollars per cycle, indefinitely.

For buildings 50 years or older with masonry, stone or terra cotta cladding affixed by concealed corrodible or corrosion-resistant metal fasteners, the professional must create inspection openings. Where unsafe and imminently hazardous conditions are found, the professional must notify the Commissioner of Buildings immediately and develop a repair plan and schedule.

On penalties: a compliance guide reports $500 to $1,000 per day for failure to file and $1,000 per day where unsafe conditions persist. That guide also miscites the requirements to Chapter 14-12 rather than 13-196, so treat the penalty figures as unverified.

The Illinois context that makes this matter more

This is the only structural-inspection mandate in Illinois. The state has enacted nothing comparable to Florida's or New Jersey's milestone-inspection regimes, no standalone inspection bill surfaced in the 104th General Assembly, and the task force chartered to study “safe living conditions” died in Rules.

Outside Chicago, an aging Illinois high-rise is inspected when its board decides to inspect it — and with no reserve-study requirement either, often it does not.

What to watch next

CAI's national policy now supports laws providing for ongoing inspections of building structures and facades, a plank added in February 2024. That is the piece Illinois has not yet seen in bill form.