The order Chicago’s building-code hearing docket issues most is not about bricks or wiring — it is the order to let an inspector in. “Arrange for inspection of premises” appears on 39,062 of the docket file’s 144,837 hearing cases, 27 percent, ahead of porch repairs (24,644 dockets) and exterior walls (24,158). This list ranks the eight charges that appear on the most dockets in our reading of the administrative-hearings file — where every case in the file, all 144,837, was issued by the Buildings department. One counting rule carries every entry: a docket usually carries several charges, so these counts overlap and are not a partition, and no fine totals appear here because the file supports none, for reasons the full analysis explains. These are counts of recorded charges, not judgments of any building or owner, and this page takes no position on where anyone should live.
1. Arrange for an inspection of the premises — 39,062 dockets
The most-charged order in the file is procedural, not structural: it directs the owner to arrange an inspection of the premises, citing municipal code 13-12-100. It appears on 39,062 dockets — 27 percent of every hearing case in the file, and more than any repair order.
2. Repair or replace defective or missing porch members — 24,644 dockets
The most common physical-repair charge, on 24,644 dockets. Porch systems cite code section 13-196-570 — the same section that puts exterior stairs at No. 6 on this list.
3. Repair an exterior wall — 24,158 dockets
On 24,158 dockets, within five hundred of the porch order, citing 13-196-010 and 13-196-530 B — the file states the order in three words and leaves the wall’s condition to the inspection record.
4. Post the owner’s name, address, and telephone — 21,394 dockets
An administrative order, on 21,394 dockets: the file’s text requires the name, address, and telephone of the owner or whoever manages the building to be posted where the public can see it, citing 13-12-030.
5. Submit plans sealed by a licensed architect or structural engineer and obtain a permit — 17,375 dockets
On 17,375 dockets, this order sends the owner to a professional before any work starts — plans prepared, signed, and sealed by a licensed architect or registered structural engineer, plus a permit, citing 13-32-010, 13-32-040, 13-40-010 and 13-40-020.
6. Repair or replace defective or missing exterior-stair members — 15,182 dockets
The porch order’s sibling — same code section, 13-196-570, aimed at exterior stair systems — on 15,182 dockets.
7. Replace broken, missing or defective window panes — 15,168 dockets
On 15,168 dockets, fourteen fewer than exterior stairs, citing 13-196-550 A.
8. Install and maintain approved smoke detectors — 13,375 dockets
The only life-safety-equipment order in the top eight, on 13,375 dockets. The file’s text runs through where detectors must go, unit by unit, citing 13-196-100 through 13-196-160.
Questions these numbers can answer
What building violation does Chicago charge most often? By dockets in the administrative-hearings file, the order to arrange an inspection of the premises — on 39,062 of 144,837 cases. The most common physical-repair charges are porch members (24,644 dockets) and exterior walls (24,158).
Why do porches rank so high? The file does not say why — it records charges, not causes. What it shows is that two of the eight most-charged orders concern porch and exterior-stair systems, both citing code section 13-196-570.
Do these counts mean fines? Not by themselves. About 44 percent of all dockets carry at least one imposed fine, but the file records no disposition and its fine lines repeat across hearings, so the full analysis counts fined dockets and sums nothing.
Where these numbers come from
The city’s Ordinance Violations dataset (6br9-quuz, 841,271 rows retrieved August 20, 2026), counted at docket grain — 144,837 distinct hearing cases — with each charge counted once per docket that mentions it. The grain, the fine-column boundary, and the one-department finding are in the full analysis: Chicago’s Hearing-Docket File Holds 144,837 Ordinance Cases — Every One From the Buildings Department, and No Disposition Column.
Computed by KCM Desk from records retrieved August 20, 2026. If you spot an error, corrections come first.
Related Keep Chicagoland Moving coverage
- Chicago’s Hearing-Docket File Holds 144,837 Ordinance Cases — Every One From the Buildings Department, and No Disposition Column — the full analysis behind this list
- How Chicago Works, by the Numbers
- Six Years On, Which 2019 Building Violations Are Marked Complied? A Quarter in Englewood, Two-Thirds on the Near North Side