If you are licensed and prepare residential renovation drawings of limited scope (space planning for an interior gut job, to include new wall and fixture locations), do you seal your drawings? Specifically for city permitting submission? I'm licensed in Texas, and before having kids worked for a firm doing commercial work. After kids, I've found a niche in a nearby community with single-family residences undergoing gentrification. I often work directly with the contractor or a homeowner self-performing the work. However, we rarely make it to full Construction Documents for interior renovations because this level of detail isn't needed.... just a Pricing/Bid Set, with very light specifications/code references written on the drawings, and I'm not involved in construction administration. So I'm in a bit of a quandary... TBAE requires drawings prepared by an architect to either be signed and sealed, or affixed with the note "Not for Permitting, Construction, or Regulatory Review". Up til now, I've left the "Not for Construction" note on there. One of my contractors had the note circled when he submitted the residential drawings for permitting. Any thoughts? I would like to do the right thing. Thanks!
Chad Miller
Aug 25, 20 6:43 pm
Stamp your drawings.
atelier nobody
Aug 25, 20 7:05 pm
Check your state's code of practice - here it would be required to stamp all drawings, regardless of size or type of project.
natematt
Aug 25, 20 7:11 pm
^This!
Most places require you to if you're an architect. California beats you over the head with it for their supplemental exam haha.
I am curious though... if you're licenced in one state, but not another state and do a design there, are you allowed to submit without getting your reciprocity and stamping it? (i'm sure this is also by state, but i'd be curious what the general situation is)
rcz1001
Aug 25, 20 10:01 pm
1. In general, you are not permitted to stamp drawings as an architect in states other than where you are licensed. The standard rule of thumb is you must undergo reciprocity.
2. Exempt projects do not require an architect license so if you are doing an exempt project where you are not licensed, you do not need to undergo reciprocity to design the project. However, you will need to not use the architect title or refer to such services as architectural services or do anything that represents yourself or your business as offering architectural services in that state which may require establishing a business that doesn't use the words, architect, architectural, architecture, or any variation in spelling of those words or words like architectonic and similar altered spellings. Refer to those services as building design or residential design or home design.
rcz1001
Aug 25, 20 10:12 pm
Otherwise, undergo reciprocity so you don't have to be worried about the grey area of the law and exemptions.
Note: You must never use your architect stamp from any state in states where you are not licensed unless you are 100% certain that it is an acceptable practice in that state and verified your assumption to be factual. You are only an architect where you are licensed or in places in the world where there are no architectural licensing laws.
If you are licensed in Texas, don't even think of stamping anything or using the architect title in California (or Oregon, Washington, and most other states) until you are licensed in that / those state(s). You will be fined by the licensing boards for unlawful practice of architecture if you are reported to the respected licensing boards.
rcz1001
Aug 25, 20 10:17 pm
To the OP, if the project is in Texas and the project doesn't require an architect to prepare, consult TBAE's website and review the statutes and board's administrative rules and do what according to what it says about stamping/sealing drawings.
(1) On every Construction Document prepared by an Architect or under an Architect's Supervision and Control, the Architect shall affix or cause the affixation of:
(A) the Architect's seal;
(B) the Architect's signature (across the face of the seal's image or directly under or adjacent to the seal's image); and
(C) the date of signing (including the month, day, and year) before the Construction Document is issued by or under the authority of the Architect.
(2) The Architect's seal and signature and the date must be affixed in a manner that will be clearly visible and legible on each copy of a Construction Document issued by or under the authority of the Architect. The Architect's signature and the date may not conceal or obscure the name or registration number on the seal.
(3) Construction Documents requiring a seal, signature, and date include the following:
(A) each sheet of drawings or electronic equivalent of a sheet of drawings;
(B) each specification: if a specification is included in a bound grouping of specifications that includes a table of contents or index listing each individual specification, the seal must be placed in at least one conspicuous location on the bound document; any individual specification sheet or electronic equivalent of a specification sheet that is issued separately must be sealed individually;
(C) each sheet or electronic equivalent of a sheet that identifies the project and provides a list of sealed Construction Documents, such as a title sheet, table of contents, or index; and
(D) each architectural drawing and specification that is part of an addenda, change order, construction change directive, or other Supplemental Document.
(b) Documents issued for purposes other than regulatory approval, permitting, and construction:
(1) An architectural drawing or specification issued by or under the authority of an Architect for a purpose other than regulatory approval, permitting, or construction shall include:
(A) the Architect's name;
(B) the date the document is issued (including the month, day, and year); and
(C) the following statement placed in a conspicuous location on the document: "Not for regulatory approval, permitting, or construction."
(2) Each architectural drawing and specification included in a Feasibility Study issued by or under the authority of an Architect must be sealed, signed, and dated in the manner described in Subsection 1.103(a) or labeled with the Architect's name and the date and clearly marked to indicate that it may not be used for regulatory approval, permitting, or construction in the manner described in Subsection 1.103(b).
(c) For a minimum of ten (10) years from the date of signature on each Construction Document and Prototypical Construction Document sealed by or under the authority of an Architect, the sealing Architect shall be responsible for the maintenance of the sealed, signed, and dated original document or a copy of the document bearing the clearly visible and legible seal, signature, and date.
I think it is self-explanatory. Texas law says it for any project within Texas. Projects intended to be built in other states or countries are outside the legal jurisdiction of the state of Texas. No state can enforce its laws regarding architect title & practice in connection with projects and business activities in other states or countries. This is why we have separate licensing in each of the 50 states. No need to get into the nitty-gritty of law and jurisdictional scope.
Regarding a pet peeve:
If you are a licensed architect, you should already know this and review the laws instead of asking anonymous individuals on a web forum the things you should do as part of your professional practice like reviewing the laws just as you do when reviewing if your design meets zoning and building code requirements.
Dbn8r
Aug 25, 20 11:47 pm
Thank you rcz. Sorry, didn't mean to draw out your pet peeve. I had already read the laws, and just wanted to make sure I was understanding them. Thank you.
rcz1001
Aug 26, 20 12:28 am
Okay, I can see what you are having issues with in terms of interpretation. Read the given rule carefully. Have you read this: https://pdhonline.com/courses/r128/R128content.pdf --- This might help in understanding the interpretation of terms used.
rcz1001
Aug 26, 20 12:51 am
I know you have more specific questions in mind so I'll have to try to read and understand the specific questions.
As for natematt's question, you are not required to do reciprocity unless you use the architect title or represent yourself as an architect in connection with and in the contract terms of your services with projects in a state where you are not licensed. If you don't represent yourself as an architect in any way or form, but as a designer then you can work on exempt buildings.
Your contract language would have to have word changes so that you don't represent yourself as an architect. If you want to use your existing contracts verbatim and use a business name that represents you as an architect, then you would need to get licensed in those other states where you are not currently licensed.
I am referring to a grey area that the exemptions legally provides you but you have to navigate it without setting off the legal traps that gets the licensing board on your ass. I know architects you have successfully managed to be licensed in some states and work on exempt projects as a building designer in other states but they basically have a separate residential design business and use an altered version of their contracts that changes the use of certain words to avoid getting rapped for unlicensed practice of architecture.
tduds
Aug 25, 20 7:10 pm
If you're getting a permit, it needs a stamp. "NFC" won't save you. In fact, you can leave the stamp off construction drawings without issue but you gotta stamp permit drawings. At least in the jurisdictions I'm familiar with. Might vary place to place
gwharton
Aug 26, 20 6:26 pm
This is also my experience. Drawings submitted for permit applications get stamped. Nothing else does.
rcz1001
Aug 26, 20 7:15 pm
Stamp drawings in the states where you are licensed according to each respective state's laws and rules. Get it?
midlander
Aug 25, 20 9:32 pm
what benefit is expected from not stamping drawings? if something goes wrong the owner or contractor will still pull you in and you're still an architect. omitting the stamp doesn't exonerate you from professional responsibility for work you actually performed. this would be true presumably in out of state practice too if it came to a lawsuit.
op, i think you answered your own question anyway. you ask "do you seal your drawings? Specifically for city permitting submission?" and then later say the TBOE allows you to omit the stamp on drawings that aren't for "for Permitting, Construction, or Regulatory Review". seems clear to me you are required to stamp them for permitting then, regardless of your scope of service.
Dbn8r
Aug 25, 20 10:52 pm
Thanks! Per rcz's links above, I think I'm confusing the definition of 'Construction Documents' that must be stamped.
In my commercial experience, we never stamped incomplete drawings (schematic design / design development / 95% review set). The recent residential work I've been doing usually amounts to space planning and millwork elevations, and provides enough info to get construction bids. There are a number of decisions that haven't been made, that the owner will work out with the contractor. I'm not trying to skirt liability per se, but there are things the owner and contractor are able to do such as employ a structural
Dbn8r
Aug 25, 20 11:39 pm
Sorry. The contractor usually has a structural engineer design beams that exceed the span charts after the project is a 'go', and after I've finished my part of the work and am off the project.
proto
Aug 26, 20 1:05 pm
Consider hiring the structural engineer & keep that all in house. That way you are able to provide a complete solution that gets coordinated with any input from the engineer. The owner is paying it either way with markup. Why not have it bring benefit to the project instead of potentially adding conflict after your work is done?
Dbn8r
Aug 25, 20 11:43 pm
But yes, I see the conflict. Thank you.
proto
Aug 26, 20 1:00 pm
In my locale, OR, we only need to stamp for permit. So, my drawings don't get a stamp until then. But often, that coincides with bidding. For early sets, we title everything with "Not For Construction" & no stamp. That way, they can't be surreptitiously submitted. The jurisdictions are attentive about stamped/signed docs so that works here. Same in WA.
I'm licensed in CA too & per their rules, they want anything & everything output to be stamped SD, DD, CD, prelim pricing...doesn't matter if it is going to be permitted.
apscoradiales
Aug 26, 20 4:16 pm
You seal and stamp drawings only if it's conditional for getting the Building Permit (or in some districts a Site Plan Approval/rezoning).
Otherwise, what the point?
SneakyPete
Aug 26, 20 4:21 pm
Never has more effort been expended to learn so much about the finer points of how to avoid spending effort than our very own Ricky B. If you'd only have spent all those years in school and at work you'd be a licensed architect by now.
rcz1001
Aug 27, 20 2:46 am
Sure but that is not the subject matter of this topic. I work for my own business in building design. Without the accredited architecture degree, don't you think I should pass the ARE at the very least before wasting my time writing up a resume?
If you are licensed and prepare residential renovation drawings of limited scope (space planning for an interior gut job, to include new wall and fixture locations), do you seal your drawings? Specifically for city permitting submission? I'm licensed in Texas, and before having kids worked for a firm doing commercial work. After kids, I've found a niche in a nearby community with single-family residences undergoing gentrification. I often work directly with the contractor or a homeowner self-performing the work. However, we rarely make it to full Construction Documents for interior renovations because this level of detail isn't needed.... just a Pricing/Bid Set, with very light specifications/code references written on the drawings, and I'm not involved in construction administration. So I'm in a bit of a quandary... TBAE requires drawings prepared by an architect to either be signed and sealed, or affixed with the note "Not for Permitting, Construction, or Regulatory Review". Up til now, I've left the "Not for Construction" note on there. One of my contractors had the note circled when he submitted the residential drawings for permitting. Any thoughts? I would like to do the right thing. Thanks!
Stamp your drawings.
Check your state's code of practice - here it would be required to stamp all drawings, regardless of size or type of project.
^This!
Most places require you to if you're an architect. California beats you over the head with it for their supplemental exam haha.
I am curious though... if you're licenced in one state, but not another state and do a design there, are you allowed to submit without getting your reciprocity and stamping it? (i'm sure this is also by state, but i'd be curious what the general situation is)
1. In general, you are not permitted to stamp drawings as an architect in states other than where you are licensed. The standard rule of thumb is you must undergo reciprocity.
2. Exempt projects do not require an architect license so if you are doing an exempt project where you are not licensed, you do not need to undergo reciprocity to design the project. However, you will need to not use the architect title or refer to such services as architectural services or do anything that represents yourself or your business as offering architectural services in that state which may require establishing a business that doesn't use the words, architect, architectural, architecture, or any variation in spelling of those words or words like architectonic and similar altered spellings. Refer to those services as building design or residential design or home design.
Otherwise, undergo reciprocity so you don't have to be worried about the grey area of the law and exemptions.
Note: You must never use your architect stamp from any state in states where you are not licensed unless you are 100% certain that it is an acceptable practice in that state and verified your assumption to be factual. You are only an architect where you are licensed or in places in the world where there are no architectural licensing laws.
If you are licensed in Texas, don't even think of stamping anything or using the architect title in California (or Oregon, Washington, and most other states) until you are licensed in that / those state(s). You will be fined by the licensing boards for unlawful practice of architecture if you are reported to the respected licensing boards.
To the OP, if the project is in Texas and the project doesn't require an architect to prepare, consult TBAE's website and review the statutes and board's administrative rules and do what according to what it says about stamping/sealing drawings.
Review the following:
(Board rules)
https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.ViewTAC?tac_view=5&ti=22&pt=1&ch=1&sch=F&rl=Y
https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=22&pt=1&ch=1&rl=103
RULE §1.103
(a) Construction documents:
(1) On every Construction Document prepared by an Architect or under an Architect's Supervision and Control, the Architect shall affix or cause the affixation of:
(A) the Architect's seal;
(B) the Architect's signature (across the face of the seal's image or directly under or adjacent to the seal's image); and
(C) the date of signing (including the month, day, and year) before the Construction Document is issued by or under the authority of the Architect.
(2) The Architect's seal and signature and the date must be affixed in a manner that will be clearly visible and legible on each copy of a Construction Document issued by or under the authority of the Architect. The Architect's signature and the date may not conceal or obscure the name or registration number on the seal.
(3) Construction Documents requiring a seal, signature, and date include the following:
(A) each sheet of drawings or electronic equivalent of a sheet of drawings;
(B) each specification: if a specification is included in a bound grouping of specifications that includes a table of contents or index listing each individual specification, the seal must be placed in at least one conspicuous location on the bound document; any individual specification sheet or electronic equivalent of a specification sheet that is issued separately must be sealed individually;
(C) each sheet or electronic equivalent of a sheet that identifies the project and provides a list of sealed Construction Documents, such as a title sheet, table of contents, or index; and
(D) each architectural drawing and specification that is part of an addenda, change order, construction change directive, or other Supplemental Document.
(b) Documents issued for purposes other than regulatory approval, permitting, and construction:
(1) An architectural drawing or specification issued by or under the authority of an Architect for a purpose other than regulatory approval, permitting, or construction shall include:
(A) the Architect's name;
(B) the date the document is issued (including the month, day, and year); and
(C) the following statement placed in a conspicuous location on the document: "Not for regulatory approval, permitting, or construction."
(2) Each architectural drawing and specification included in a Feasibility Study issued by or under the authority of an Architect must be sealed, signed, and dated in the manner described in Subsection 1.103(a) or labeled with the Architect's name and the date and clearly marked to indicate that it may not be used for regulatory approval, permitting, or construction in the manner described in Subsection 1.103(b).
(c) For a minimum of ten (10) years from the date of signature on each Construction Document and Prototypical Construction Document sealed by or under the authority of an Architect, the sealing Architect shall be responsible for the maintenance of the sealed, signed, and dated original document or a copy of the document bearing the clearly visible and legible seal, signature, and date.
AND for state law reference:
(Statutory Law)
https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/OC/htm/OC.1051.htm
Sec. 1051.702.
I think it is self-explanatory. Texas law says it for any project within Texas. Projects intended to be built in other states or countries are outside the legal jurisdiction of the state of Texas. No state can enforce its laws regarding architect title & practice in connection with projects and business activities in other states or countries. This is why we have separate licensing in each of the 50 states. No need to get into the nitty-gritty of law and jurisdictional scope.
Regarding a pet peeve:
If you are a licensed architect, you should already know this and review the laws instead of asking anonymous individuals on a web forum the things you should do as part of your professional practice like reviewing the laws just as you do when reviewing if your design meets zoning and building code requirements.
Thank you rcz. Sorry, didn't mean to draw out your pet peeve. I had already read the laws, and just wanted to make sure I was understanding them. Thank you.
Okay, I can see what you are having issues with in terms of interpretation. Read the given rule carefully. Have you read this: https://pdhonline.com/courses/r128/R128content.pdf --- This might help in understanding the interpretation of terms used.
I know you have more specific questions in mind so I'll have to try to read and understand the specific questions.
As for natematt's question, you are not required to do reciprocity unless you use the architect title or represent yourself as an architect in connection with and in the contract terms of your services with projects in a state where you are not licensed. If you don't represent yourself as an architect in any way or form, but as a designer then you can work on exempt buildings.
Your contract language would have to have word changes so that you don't represent yourself as an architect. If you want to use your existing contracts verbatim and use a business name that represents you as an architect, then you would need to get licensed in those other states where you are not currently licensed.
I am referring to a grey area that the exemptions legally provides you but you have to navigate it without setting off the legal traps that gets the licensing board on your ass. I know architects you have successfully managed to be licensed in some states and work on exempt projects as a building designer in other states but they basically have a separate residential design business and use an altered version of their contracts that changes the use of certain words to avoid getting rapped for unlicensed practice of architecture.
If you're getting a permit, it needs a stamp. "NFC" won't save you. In fact, you can leave the stamp off construction drawings without issue but you gotta stamp permit drawings. At least in the jurisdictions I'm familiar with. Might vary place to place
This is also my experience. Drawings submitted for permit applications get stamped. Nothing else does.
Stamp drawings in the states where you are licensed according to each respective state's laws and rules. Get it?
what benefit is expected from not stamping drawings? if something goes wrong the owner or contractor will still pull you in and you're still an architect. omitting the stamp doesn't exonerate you from professional responsibility for work you actually performed. this would be true presumably in out of state practice too if it came to a lawsuit.
op, i think you answered your own question anyway. you ask "do you seal your drawings? Specifically for city permitting submission?" and then later say the TBOE allows you to omit the stamp on drawings that aren't for "for Permitting, Construction, or Regulatory Review". seems clear to me you are required to stamp them for permitting then, regardless of your scope of service.
Thanks! Per rcz's links above, I think I'm confusing the definition of 'Construction Documents' that must be stamped. In my commercial experience, we never stamped incomplete drawings (schematic design / design development / 95% review set). The recent residential work I've been doing usually amounts to space planning and millwork elevations, and provides enough info to get construction bids. There are a number of decisions that haven't been made, that the owner will work out with the contractor. I'm not trying to skirt liability per se, but there are things the owner and contractor are able to do such as employ a structural
Sorry. The contractor usually has a structural engineer design beams that exceed the span charts after the project is a 'go', and after I've finished my part of the work and am off the project.
Consider hiring the structural engineer & keep that all in house. That way you are able to provide a complete solution that gets coordinated with any input from the engineer. The owner is paying it either way with markup. Why not have it bring benefit to the project instead of potentially adding conflict after your work is done?
But yes, I see the conflict. Thank you.
In my locale, OR, we only need to stamp for permit. So, my drawings don't get a stamp until then. But often, that coincides with bidding. For early sets, we title everything with "Not For Construction" & no stamp. That way, they can't be surreptitiously submitted. The jurisdictions are attentive about stamped/signed docs so that works here. Same in WA.
I'm licensed in CA too & per their rules, they want anything & everything output to be stamped SD, DD, CD, prelim pricing...doesn't matter if it is going to be permitted.
You seal and stamp drawings only if it's conditional for getting the Building Permit (or in some districts a Site Plan Approval/rezoning).
Otherwise, what the point?
Never has more effort been expended to learn so much about the finer points of how to avoid spending effort than our very own Ricky B. If you'd only have spent all those years in school and at work you'd be a licensed architect by now.
Sure but that is not the subject matter of this topic. I work for my own business in building design. Without the accredited architecture degree, don't you think I should pass the ARE at the very least before wasting my time writing up a resume?