Purpose:
This bulletin is to provide information on Engineer’s Foundation Inspection Letters for residential home building contractors. This bulletin is to outline a process change that the Building Safety Division is implementing after discussion with the residential builders stakeholder group in open meeting on July 30th, 2021.
Scope:
The Building Safety Division has required an Engineer’s Foundation Letter as a listed item on the residential new build checklist in the past. This letter has a mandatory template that requires the engineer of record for a residential foundation to certify that they are responsible for both the design and inspection of the residential foundation at the specific address for which the permit application has been submitted. It was brought to the attention of the Building Safety Division that the design engineer is not always the same engineer that provides independent inspection services on the foundation. For this reason we are changing our process in two ways to provide greater flexibility to our stakeholders and to ensure that the interests of potential homeowners are protected.
1. As of October 1, 2021, the engineer’s foundation letter will no longer be a required item on the residential new build checklist. It will remain an optional item for submittal, but the sealed foundation design will be sufficient to ensure responsibility for design.
2. An Engineer’s Foundation Inspection Letter will be required to be uploaded electronically into the project record during the inspections phase at approximately the same time as the form survey which is currently required. Builders are to be aware that the inspections team will not schedule a Framing, Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing (FEMP) inspection until the sealed letter has been provided.
3. The Engineer’s Foundation Inspection letter must contain at minimum the following items in order to be accepted;
- The address of record for the building foundation inspected.
- Engineer’s name and statement of type of inspection performed
- Statement of passing status of the inspection or verbiage to effect that the foundation was found to bein conformance with the plans of record.
- Date of inspection.
- Engineer’s seal.
Summary:
This bulletin is informational in nature and is provided as a customer service initiative.
Prepared By: Kevin Collins, PE, Building Official
Reviewed By: Chris Looney, Director- Planning & Development Services
Authorized By: Chris Looney, Director- Planning & Development Services