Size of Building requiring a PE

[JAE]

I reside in a state (in USA) where currently there is a bill pending in the legislature where a limit on the size of building requiring an engineered design might change. Currently, the law states that any structure less than 5000 square feet does not require a PE seal.

The new bill would change that to 80,000 sq. ft.!!!

Does anyone have any information from other states/jurisdictions that could possibly be used to back up a claim that this is a terrible mistake. That there is danger in letting non-engineers design buildings of this size? Our local engineering community is attempting to shut this bill down.

Have any of you had similar experiences in your own areas? What happened and how was it fought?

 

[Ron]

JAE,
Do what you can to block this!! In Florida, the limitation was maintained at the residential level, but in practice went the other way! Now, residential plans must be signed/sealed for shear wall/wind load concurrence. An attempt was made to "water down" the law, but fortunately it was upheld.

Contact your state ACEC chapter and make sure they are doing everything they can to stop this. I agree, this is dangerous and does nothing for the good of the public.

Ron

 

[Qshake]

Whoa, hold the presses! This is really stupid!

Get on the horn to your local representative of the National Society of Professional Engineers and make them get involved. That society has, like most I'm sure, a committee that is supposed to monitor crap like that.

 

[TowerEngineer]

The California model and the Uniform Building Code require that all building structures (other than residential) over 6 feet in height and more than 120 square feet require the stamp and 'wet signature' of a registered professional engineer. Retaining walls over 4 feet tall also require a PE in CA.

Plans for single family one- and two-story dwellings must be designed by what is referred to as a registered residential building designer (something relatively new to CA in the last 4 or 5 years brought about by the number of lawsuits for bad building designs revealed by the Northridge Earthquake).

Oregon pretty much follows the California model for those local jurisdictions that have building department review.

Any owner of a proposed structure may design the building for himself without benefit of registration -- regardless of the size of structure. The owner must still demonstrate that the design and proposed construction complies with relevant design standards and building codes adopted by the local building department. Generally speaking, no owner with any sense would design their own building unless they are a registered architect or engineer of the right stripe.

You should consider contacting the National Council of Structural Engineer Associations (NCSEA) to let them know what's up in your state. By the way, what state is it? Contact your state's Structural Engineers Association to let them know what's in the works also. They can probably bring alot of force to bear on the subject.

 

[JAE]

State: Nebraska

All the local engineering entities are on it. Just wondering if any other state had done this or was doing this.