From my experience (in Florida), the "guidance" will be "bring us engineered plans". The strange thing is when you get to the engineer he will be working off some handout outs from the state, (not doing any real calculations).
I don't know why the building department won't just give you the handout.
They probably could, but there are always caveots and exceptions. So, they require it be engineered, trusting the engineer will know where the standard details can and can't apply, and will engineer the proper solution for each job. Most of the time, if it's simple, it'll be the standard drawing or a very close derivative.
