Original SEOR not available and SSK stamped by other engineer - Buena Park, CA

[nampar]

Hi All,
At one of my friend's house, the city inspector asked the contractor to have certain discrepancies approved by a structural engineer. Now the SEOR who stamped and produced the drawings is not available and there is an extreme urgency to finish off the work and have it approved. I would love to help him out with the required fix and issue an SSK (with my stamp). Will the city accept it? This is a house addition in Buena Park, CA. How is the liability shared in such a case?

Any help/direction is extremely appreciated.

 

[driftLimiter]

Here in NV we have laws that says basically if another engineer wants to take over a previous engineers work than the previous engineer must sign a letter transferring the liability to the new EOR. I would ask the building official, since the old engineer cant be bothered to help finish his work it is a bit of a special situation.

 

[JoshPlumSE]

I think it's whoever's stamp is on the final drawings. I've signed off on RFO's or change orders or stuff like that before with my stamp. But, I was still working for / with the EOR in those cases. So, there was no change of liability.

I've also taken over a small project from a EOR who passed away. I merely took his drawings, produced my own calculation package, made a few edits to the details and such. But, I clearly assumed ALL the liability in that case because nothing had been submitted to the city yet.

 

[chris3eb]

since the old engineer cant be bothered to help finish his work

I'm not sure I would be so quick to assume this is the case. The contractor is asking to have "discrepancies approved" with "extreme urgency".

 

[JoshPlumSE]

I'm not sure I would be so quick to assume this is the case. The contractor is asking to have "discrepancies approved" with "extreme urgency".

That's a really good point. There are plenty of times when an engineer doesn't get fully paid for his/her work and refuses to respond to RFI's or such until his is paid. Or, major changes to the design are requested so that the contractor can save money, but they want the engineer to approve the changes without getting paid for the work they do to ensure that the changes actually work.

Unless you've spoken to the engineer I wouldn't necessarily take this person (owner or contractor) at their word.

 

[JoshPlumSE]

Heck, a friend told me of a case where he sent the contractor a letter saying that the change he made does NOT comply with the design intent and was done AGAINST his recommendation. How does the contractor respond in such a case? Eat the cost and fix it? Or, see if he can beg another engineer to review and sign off on the change.

 

[Kom3]

The liability would be litigated and investigated in an expensive lawsuit if something goes wrong. Even if the structure fails for an unrelated reason, the original SEOR can point to you. No good deed goes unpunished. If you do take it on, I recommend you do the due diligence and review everything that is related to the discrepancy and beyond. From loads to load paths to material specified. Honestly, probably not worth it. If my friends ask something like that from me, I would tell them it is not my specialty and to HIRE professional help. I might at most point to them in the right direction. You might actually be risking your friendship if you get involved.