Does anyone have a list of states that require professional licensure for construction layout? I read a resume that repeatedly says " redesigned grading plan". This person is not licensed to practice surveying or engineering. This person also has a survey consulting business.
If you would like the link to their website, I will email it to you. I found it very well worded to avoid the need for licensure, but the list of personal achievements mentions design and redesign.
How do people get away with design and redesign without licensure?
> How do people get away with design and redesign without licensure?
What I want to know is, How do people with an license (Engineers) get away with designing things that don't fit without someone on the ground fixing their screwups.
I guess that would be a whole different thread.
Texas does not require a license for construction surveying.
James
Ohio Board of Registration issued an opinion letter, Construction Layout Services
2009-04-30, the type of service you describe would likely be illegal.
Quoting from part of that letter. Construction surveying ". . .may be carried out by an unlicensed individual when the individual is in the direct employment of a general contractor and the activities are incidental to the contractor’s scope of work. However, please be advised that contractual obligations imposed by the owner often dictate that these same activities be performed under the direction of a registered surveyor. Additionally, the map, plan, or drawing, on which the construction plans are based, along with any associated control points established by a professional surveyor, must be strictly adhered to. To make changes to the professional surveyors work product, or to establish different control points, would constitute the illegal practice of surveying."
The redesign of a grading plan could include altering drainage patterns and/or rates of flow. In Ohio that constitutes engineering design and would likely be an additional illegal act.
The first question to come to my mind is who was he working for at the time. If it was the engineering firm that designed the plans, he could say he did so under their supervision. If not, that's a different story. Either way, he probably should not make that statement on a resume without clarification because it gives the impression that he did so unsupervised.
:good:
In NY you do not need a license for layout. You need it to certify anything though. A lot of times the union layout surveyors work for the construction company directly and they work with the construction company to make field changes and adjustments. It's a fine line...
Landscape Architecture
> Does anyone have a list of states that require professional licensure for construction layout? I read a resume that repeatedly says " redesigned grading plan". This person is not licensed to practice surveying or engineering. This person also has a survey consulting business. How do people get away with design and redesign without licensure?
The problem in this here case is the person's choice of expression; "redesigned grading plan". The construction industry will not change. It is too costly for the owner to have the contractor stop every time a problem occurs with a set of plans. When a problem occurs, the super and the field engineers (contractor's and owner's representative) may come up with a viable solution right there; aka "field fit". The parameters of this agreed upon field fit need to be prepared and documented. This is probably what the mention individual does, applying slight modifications to the design based on agreed-upon discussions by the involved parties.
It is very important to keep the momentum going on a construction project, big or small.
All fine a good... until that field change causes a conflict down the road and the finger pointing begins...
>When a problem occurs, the super and the field engineers (contractor's and owner's representative) may come up with a viable solution right there; aka "field fit". The parameters of this agreed upon field fit need to be prepared and documented. This is probably what the mention individual does, applying slight modifications to the design based on agreed-upon discussions by the involved parties.
>
> It is very important to keep the momentum going on a construction project, big or small.
I agree 100% with what you are saying.
Many times when you present a problem without a solution, the answer is 6 weeks away regardless of how simple it is. If you present a problem with a viable solution, many times the approval is just minutes away. Usually the answer is obvious, you just need approval.
Or you could do like some contractors and build it exactly like the plans say. Then call the owner out there after it is built and expect them to pay you (the contractor) to tear it out and do it right. We had to do that on one job because they just could not see the problem until it was built.
James
So how would the following apply in Ohio then. Part of our business is the positioning of oil and gas processing equipment for contractors per engineered plans. Meaning that on a plant site we will set up on provided control points and then position the equipment for skew/centerline placement, etc based on the equipment vendor's provided placement coordinates/dimensions/drawings. Would that be considered construction surveying in Ohio?
We are in Texas and it does not fall under surveying here (of course I do have a Texas license). Just curious how it would apply to other states. It does seem like in some states that just measuring and cutting a board would be surveying given their definitions.
Anyway, in the end, it's up to the engineer(s) in charge if a proposed solution is a go; he/she is the one stamping.
Sure he probably did some of the minor fixes as the construction came together, but in all reality, it was just small stuff. Now he is out on his own and trying to make himself look good! In marketing you can have all kinds of license with what is said. Who is going to take you to task? I may have even embellished a story a time or two while marketing myself or my company!
It also would not be hard to imagine that every little thing he surveys may have some tasks that could stray over the line which otherwise would need a licensed surveyor. Here again, who will take him to task over those? Pretty much no one.
FWIW, on a few projects a waiver was all it took to get around the requirements for a professional license. I know we did it once in Nevada and once in North Carolina. What it amounts to is the contractor agreeing to a 'you broke it you bought it' approach.
Suggest you read the entire letter, if you are a direct employee of one of the contractors and the layout is incidental to the contract you may be in the clear. However, if you company contracts only for layout services the employee in charge of the services must be licensed. In addition the company must have a "certificate of authorization" or company license.
In NC you have to be licensed. The board added the requirement after machine control became an issue (a whole thread in itself).
> In NY you do not need a license for layout. You need it to certify anything though. A lot of times the union layout surveyors work for the construction company directly and they work with the construction company to make field changes and adjustments. It's a fine line...
Who says?
Ralph Perez LS
NYC Union Surveyor
Also an engineer can create 3d models for machine control but can't do construction staking. Hmmmmm
People get away with most things because no one reports them to the board, for whatever reason.
The list of things people get away with is very long.
When did that change? So North Carolina regulates construction staking now...Wish Virginia would take that lead...I feel the contractors would have a hissy fit 🙂
