ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area odd request from building inspector

He (the AHJ) is just looking for a replacement for unstamped prints otherwise known as a P.E. stamp. This is the stamp architects put on prints.

It sounds like the AHJ is looking for someone to blame if it turns out that there is any non-compliant work whatsoever found at any point in the future, whether it was work that you did or work that was done 20 years ago by a homeowner.
I would avoid signing anything that exceeds the work that I did...you could be opening yourself up to a world of future trouble.

It's some liability issue that apparently over my head

I can make e-mailable prints all day long, but the state would not sanction them, insisting i 'ought to know what i'm doing'

Yet they'll look for a set of architect's prints with a stamp on it before a job starts for their 'okey dokey'

But the truth is, most archy's don't even make a site visit, and are summarily dismissed after the initial set of prints go through the state process

The site sparky makes all the changes, which can be worlds apart from the original architecuals , we know them as 'as builts'

In my case, the state doesn't care about as builts, or the evolution that may have occured

So my Q is, is the state empowered to ask for an Archy level as built when the archy's been history for 90% of the job?

~S~

~s~:
Hello stranger!!
Here in the Garden State, the AHJs (Bldg/Plumb/Elec/Fire/CO/etc) can and do ask for signed/sealed 'as-builts' either from the Architect of record, or the PE/EE/ME/SE etc. Legality for the request is based on regs within the NJ UCC (5:23 et al)

Chapter & verse will have to wait, as my Blue Book is in the office.

With the OP; I still can't see what a building inspector would want a letter from an EC??

Hi Hotone ,

I'm unsure of the OP's situation, but it's made me wonder about mine. I had complained to my AHJ that the Archy had been dismissed after his plans were stamped by the state.

I'm told that this is routine, but it doesn't make sense unless the job runs close to the original prints

In my case,the job had major changes

Nobody's asking, but I guess i'll have to look up the regs here, if we have any such reg....?

~S~

~s~:
Usually a letter from a 'new' Arch suffices that the job is 'taken over'. The legalities of anything else is left to the lawyer groups.

Basically, it is treated like a Change of Contractor.

Thanks HotOne

i guess if a new Arch comes along i can throw my asbuilts at him/her

....and i usually hide under my bed at the mention of lawyers....

~S~

Sparky;

If the lawyers are around, you might want to resist any urges to tear off the "do not remove under penalty of law" tag from the mattress when you're under there.

I am thinking it may be related to the question of liability for the building code issues.
Here in Canada the building inspectors often rely on a system of schedules from the engineers and architect but they do not come from the electrical contractor, they come from a professional. I don't know about the US Building code but many performance requirments for electrical systems are defined in the building code. Things like how a fire alarm operates, where the devices must be installed. Emergency lighting is not defined in the CEC for location only how they are to be supplied and operate. Things like smoke control, sprinklers, elevator operation relative to how they work when a fire is in the building, exiting and a lot of other things that have electrical equipment that must operate in specific manner relative to the building code.
In Canada an electrical contractor that is not an engineer would never be asked to provide any such declaration as without a professional's seal it has no legal weight here. I think that BI was looking for such an assurance from the electrical designer but in the acbsence of an electrical engineer maybe an architect should provide that piece of paper. I doubt that the EC would know all the answers a BI is looking for>