I am a graduate student. A homeowner asked me to create AutoCAD drawings of his basement. He will submit the drawings to the county architect for approval. My name will not appear on the drawings. In excange for doing the drawings, he will give me a discount on rent in his house. Will I violate the Architects Practice Act if I do the drawings?
anybody is allowed to do this kind of project. there's really not even any reason not to have your name on the drawings, unless you think it might open you up for some liability later.
agree with lb on the contract. make it official; make sure all parties understand the compensation. a 'discount' sounds slippery.
Residential design and working drawings can be prepared by a non architect. Local jurisdictions can require a professional seal at their discretion. Your state board of architects probably has a website with all the published laws regarding practice.
seeds I suspect the agreement you need is somewhat unique and you are unlikely to find one that refers to compensation as a "discount on rent." However, and I think everyone is alluding to, is that you find out what is the value of the discount and how long with last - that's something you will need to know if you put it into writing, as well would be also something you could put in a standard contract, "I do XX work for $XXX dollar compensation delivered as a reimbursable cost over XX months, etc"
Be careful with Basements....as if you have a bedroom in a basement you will need a legal exit. Check your State Building Code to verify all requirements. It might be a good reason to not pay you for the work.
Right, what snook said - check into minimum egress requirements for windows in "sleeping rooms". I got burned on this code awhile back...
The nice thing about the homeowner submitting, though, is that the code official likely won't give him/her a hard time about code issues and will just state what needs to be changed. When an architect goes in they love to run us through the wringer!
Write into your contract that you don't take responsibility for code requirements. You should attempt to learn and incorporate them, because you'll need to know them eventually, but sometimes code officials can be hardasses and you don't want your client/landlord expecting you to take the blame for some unexpected interpretation.
One other thing you should be worried about if you are moving into his basement is what kind of floor does the basement have, it can be concrete which doesnt stick to older concrete, therefore it will start cracking. Are the walls leaking water? Is there mold? If you are renting the basement, legally you should have separate exit, probably two egress exits, depending on the lenght of the basement. There should be fire dampers and fire separation from the unit above to the basement/unit below. If he wants just to put up couple of walls and call it a day and have you stuck in there then there could be alot of potential problems, legally for him and just pain in the ass for you (taking in account all of the above). You can get away with alot of things like vado said, depending what you call the space, but if anything happens the "landlord" will be liable, but considering you were part of the work, he may hold you liable if anything goes wrong.
why are you building basements in nuevo mexico jeffe? assuming it was there of course. i slept in the basement for years and there was just one little window and i survived.
client is a guy who's kind of a tinkerer and home-brew builder. he decided to get a permit after he had the cmu walls and slab in place. fortunately he's an engineer so he knows what he's doing - otherwise i wouldn't have touched it.
actually he hangs out with geoff beebe and they get together to do construction projects, mostly at geoff's house from what i understand. ever seen geoff's place?
seeds, there's very little danger to you here, as long as you write up a contract. I have done this kind of thing before and it's easy cash. I'm not sure why you'd pass it up.
Architecture Practice Act
Hi,
I am a graduate student. A homeowner asked me to create AutoCAD drawings of his basement. He will submit the drawings to the county architect for approval. My name will not appear on the drawings. In excange for doing the drawings, he will give me a discount on rent in his house. Will I violate the Architects Practice Act if I do the drawings?
Thank you.
No, but make very sure you have a very clear understanding, even a contract, with him. Sounds like a potentially messy situation!
anybody is allowed to do this kind of project. there's really not even any reason not to have your name on the drawings, unless you think it might open you up for some liability later.
agree with lb on the contract. make it official; make sure all parties understand the compensation. a 'discount' sounds slippery.
Residential design and working drawings can be prepared by a non architect. Local jurisdictions can require a professional seal at their discretion. Your state board of architects probably has a website with all the published laws regarding practice.
Thank you everyone for your help!
Hi, one more question ... where can I get a contract? Can I write one myself with all of the expectations for both parties and we sign it? Thank you!
seeds I suspect the agreement you need is somewhat unique and you are unlikely to find one that refers to compensation as a "discount on rent." However, and I think everyone is alluding to, is that you find out what is the value of the discount and how long with last - that's something you will need to know if you put it into writing, as well would be also something you could put in a standard contract, "I do XX work for $XXX dollar compensation delivered as a reimbursable cost over XX months, etc"
OK, thank you architechnophilia.
Be careful with Basements....as if you have a bedroom in a basement you will need a legal exit. Check your State Building Code to verify all requirements. It might be a good reason to not pay you for the work.
Right, what snook said - check into minimum egress requirements for windows in "sleeping rooms". I got burned on this code awhile back...
The nice thing about the homeowner submitting, though, is that the code official likely won't give him/her a hard time about code issues and will just state what needs to be changed. When an architect goes in they love to run us through the wringer!
Write into your contract that you don't take responsibility for code requirements. You should attempt to learn and incorporate them, because you'll need to know them eventually, but sometimes code officials can be hardasses and you don't want your client/landlord expecting you to take the blame for some unexpected interpretation.
yes, but only if you called it a bedroom. if you called it a storage room then you would be just fine. Lying on floorplans is an artform.
well the 2006 IRC was revised to require egress from basement rooms of any use, with a few exceptions for mechanical rooms, etc.
i got dinged for that about 6 months ago...
One other thing you should be worried about if you are moving into his basement is what kind of floor does the basement have, it can be concrete which doesnt stick to older concrete, therefore it will start cracking. Are the walls leaking water? Is there mold? If you are renting the basement, legally you should have separate exit, probably two egress exits, depending on the lenght of the basement. There should be fire dampers and fire separation from the unit above to the basement/unit below. If he wants just to put up couple of walls and call it a day and have you stuck in there then there could be alot of potential problems, legally for him and just pain in the ass for you (taking in account all of the above). You can get away with alot of things like vado said, depending what you call the space, but if anything happens the "landlord" will be liable, but considering you were part of the work, he may hold you liable if anything goes wrong.
Good luck!
Thank you everyone for the advise. I decided not to pursue the offer.
why are you building basements in nuevo mexico jeffe? assuming it was there of course. i slept in the basement for years and there was just one little window and i survived.
client is a guy who's kind of a tinkerer and home-brew builder. he decided to get a permit after he had the cmu walls and slab in place. fortunately he's an engineer so he knows what he's doing - otherwise i wouldn't have touched it.
actually he hangs out with geoff beebe and they get together to do construction projects, mostly at geoff's house from what i understand. ever seen geoff's place?
seeds, there's very little danger to you here, as long as you write up a contract. I have done this kind of thing before and it's easy cash. I'm not sure why you'd pass it up.
be careful of radon when living in a basement.
It depends on the state. Where are you located?
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