Native American Special Edition Cover of 2024 IRC Book Now Available

The Native American special edition cover of the 2024 International Residential Code® (IRC) book is now available through the International Code Council (ICC) bookstore. The book cover was unveiled in October 2025 by ICC Board Member Jack Applegate and CEO John Belcik at the Native American Code Officials (NACO) second Annual Summit in Arizona.  

The two-day NACO Summit was attended by members from over 30 tribal nations along with many allies from the built environment. Copies of the special edition IRC were donated by ICC and distributed by NACO to summit attendees.  

Numerous attendees presented the special edition IRC books to their respective tribal elected leadership at subsequent tribal council meetings. These books are now being actively used by tribal building officials, tribal plan reviewers and tribal inspectors.  

NACO Board Member Matthew Beaudet also formally presented a copy of the special edition IRC book to the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) at the NCAI Annual Convention in Seattle, WA, in November 2025. Word of the Native American-themed special edition IRC book has been well-received in Indian Country and in the code enforcement industry.  

This marks only the second time that ICC has issued a special edition themed cover, the first being a special edition military camouflage cover to honor veterans in the building safety industry.  

Why the IRC? 

As housing remains a vital need in tribal communities, the IRC was chosen as the appropriate code to showcase the need for tribal housing and to celebrate the successes by tribal nations in creating new residential construction across the country. The photos featured on the cover highlight the new construction of tribal single-family and multi-family housing built by the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi on their tribal lands in southern Michigan.  

The cover photos also celebrate tribal sovereignty, as the Pokagon Band Building Code incorporates the 2021 IRC as opposed to the Michigan Building Code, which was then based on the earlier 2015 IRC.  

“We are grateful to the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Tribal Council Chair Matthew Wesaw, the Tribal Council and the amazing Pokagon Band tribal staff for allowing the use of the wonderful photos,” said Matt Beaudet, former building commissioner for the City of Chicago and an enrolled member and Elder of the Montaukett Indian Nation.    

Original artwork by Beaudet is also included on the cover, who said the artwork celebrates the four directions, four elements, four life cycles, four seasons, four kingdoms, four medicines and other features sacred in Native American culture incorporated into a medicine wheel.  

Beaudet said the Native American-themed special edition IRC cover is another example of ICC’s support for Native American Tribal Nations as well as a celebration of the many success stories occurring in Tribal Nations in new residential construction coast to coast.      

Learn more about NACO here. View the Special Edition of the 2024 IRC on the ICC store here.