Ask Andy – Stamped Plans

by Andy Sheldon

in Ask Andy

Do I really need stamped plans?

The answer depends mostly on your local building department and your laws governing residential buildings.  In New Jersey, where I am licensed, a home owner can do their own construction drawings without being licensed nor requiring seals or stamps.  If someone else does the drawings they need to sealed by a NJ licensed Architect. An engineer will not do.

In other states like Virginia, the person who does the drawings for residential projects does not need a license nor do the drawings need to be stamped as long as the project is governed by the International Residential Code (IRC).

Washington DC requires stamped plans for all structural work in a residential project, but the licensed professional can be an architect or engineer.  My work in New York State and Pennsylvania was the same way… and an engineer could stamp the plans.

The first thing to do is to look at your municipal website for their code. Sometimes this is found under the building department and sometimes in a link on the home page.  In some cases they might refer you to the County or the State.  In New Jersey, we have a state wide code. In other areas of the country, it is at the County or the Municipal level.

If you cannot find the regulations on line, you will need to ask your local building department.  Sometimes the office clerk will not know, so either ask for a copy of the regulations that govern drawing submission for residential building permits, or ask the building inspector.  Also be sure to ask whether a home owner can do their own drawings without a professional stamp.

A word of advice however… Hire a local engineer to review the structure… period.  Although I do structural work for houses all the time, I always have my engineer check my work.  Even with my knowledge, the structure is too important to leave to anyone else.

The idea that you should save $500-$1000 on the structural work, when you are going to spend $100,000 or more on a home for yourself, quite honestly is sheer madness.  If you live in warm an area of no snow and low winds, an engineer can save you the cost of the fee in reducing the specs found in stock plans.

Yes, even our plans are a bit over-designed for no snow areas.  If you live in a high snow or high wind area, you will find that no stock plan will be designed for these loads and having an engineer will be the cheapest expense, compared to a failure.

As always, your comments are very valuable not only to me but to the others who drop by.

Best,

Andy

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