Self-Certification

Thought this was interesting. It's an article about the practice of builders self-certifying building plans.

Architectural Record
November 1, 2007Should architects be allowed to self-certify building plans?BYLINE: Dorian DavisSECTION: Record News; Pg. 47 Vol. 195 No. 11LENGTH: 577 words
Just as other cities around the country are experimenting with ways to streamline the plan-review and permit process, New York City, a trendsetter in this respect, is clamping down on its practice of allowing architects to self-certify building plans.
To save architects time, Los Angeles has unveiled the Guaranteed Express Permit Program. It serves walk-in customers with small projects within 30 minutes and issues a permit within 90 minutes or the application is free. In Honolulu, the city's Department of Planning and Permitting is allowing architects to retain private firms to inspect their building plans and report those plans certified--a system that it calls "third-party review."
New York City's Department of Buildings (DOB) initiated self-certification in 1995 to ease a permit backlog and stimulate development. Officially called "professional certification," the practice allows architects and engineers to confirm that their plans are compliant with applicable laws, rather than submit them to DOB inspectors. "It can save three or four months, and these are big numbers," says Marvin Meltzer, a partner at Meltzer-Mandl, adding that the practice is a valuable marketing tool. Forty-eight percent of the 7,000 new building applications submitted in 2006 were self-certified.
But self-certification can also make it easier for some people to take liberties with building codes and zoning restrictions. In 2006, the city discovered that Brooklyn-based architect Robert Scarano was skirting height restrictions by mislabeling whole floors as mezzanines. Safety concerns, while not necessarily caused by self-certification, have since prompted the city to halt construction on roughly 60 of his buildings. Scarano proved to be the tip of the iceberg. A DOB audit found that 57 percent of self-certified new building plans in 2006 failed to comply with codes.
State lawmakers are putting the brakes on self-certification. In August, with the backing of New York City buildings commissioner Patricia Lancaster, Governor Eliot Spitzer signed into law the "self-certification bill." It enables DOB to prevent architects from self-certifying if they have misrepresented plans in the past. Next up is a bill that seeks to limit the practice for honest architects. It would require a full DOB inspection for plans to add more floors onto existing buildings, common in land-starved Manhattan. "Most architects are superb professionals, but there are some bad apples, and their main concern is not safety but speed," says Linda Rosenthal, the bill's author. Her proposal, the most comprehensive overhaul of self-certification since 1995, cleared the assembly's Cities Committee in May and is awaiting action from Ways and Means.
Some local officials worry that the measure could have a chilling effect on development. "It has the potential to slow down the issuance of permits," Lancaster says. "The focus should be on how the city can hold responsible parties accountable and how we can prevent repeat offenders from utilizing the privilege." Meltzer, who certified all of his own buildings over the past 12 years, appears to agree: "The majority of us who know what we're doing are being punished for the minority who don't."
Advocates of limiting self-certification respond that safety is their main concern. "More eyes on building plans means more safety," Rosenthal says. It remains to be seen if other cities nationwide will agree. architecturalrecord.com/news