pre-construction EC

One of the questions I always ask a new (or old) client when they call foe a survey of any kind is "Why do you want this survey, what are you looking to accomplish with the survey" it is amazing how often the that question will change the scope of the work to be done.
In your case you were hired to do an elevation certificate of the existing property. Any additional work should require an additional fee.

I did ask; I always do. This being for a mobile home that was not on site yet did not come up until I was on site.

Around here new construction in a flood zone requires 3 Elevation Certificates: pre-construction, pre-pour (forms in place, but no concrete yet), and substantial completion. I break out the charges for each. The first one costs the most, since it requires bringing in the bench mark and generally setting up the job. Measurements for the other two are pretty quick to perform, with a correspondingly lower cost.

I do them all the time. Charge for this one and final. You will get the job for the final. Wait until you get the calls about a new construction from the insurance agent asking for you to fill in all th "pretend" numbers because they want a builders risk policy.

In the parish where I live, two certificates are required. The first one, obviously, is for the correct placement of the mobile home. The second is for compliance. The parish will not issue a "Mobile home moving permit" unless the first certificate has been done and they will not issue a "Permanent power permit" until the second one is done.
One other thing that I would tell you to check on is that, in Louisiana, the fire marshal requires that the bottom of the beams be above the BFE, not just the floor, not sure if this would apply in your area.

How did you establish the BFE? It requires a hydraulic/hydrologic analysis regardless of what anyone else tells you. Many don't understand that, even some of the FEMA staff.

As for charging for the post construction cert, I believe you should have understood the cert process and the project specifics better before entering into an agreement. The post construction cert will go fast since you already established a benchmark. Consider it the cost of education.

I understand the process of an elevation certificate and that is what I thought I was being retained to do. I feel like the client was trying to hide something from me at first. What? Why? I don't know. I asked the right questions and received satisfactory answers. Like I said, I had 2-3 phone conversations with this woman before I was retained. Not once was a new mobile home mentioned. She talked as if she needed it for the existing home. When I arrived on site, she then told me that she was putting a mobile home on the lot.

My wife helped me on this one and she even asked about that after the woman walked away. She said my facial expression made her think that something was wrong. She knew something had changed.

> I understand the process of an elevation certificate and that is what I thought I was being retained to do. .....

Pardon my confusion, in your OP you stated:

"1. I've never worked on a pre-construction EC. Is there anything special that I need to do?
2. I assume they will also need a post-construction EC?"

I think from those 2 statements, it was fair for me to presume you are not that familiar with the EC process.

I also note in the OP that you stated:

"3. The scope of work in my contract with this client reads "Elevation Certificate at address". "

I suggest you rewrite your future contracts to cover all 3 items in Section C-1 of the EC. With the owner to verify which apply. You must remember, the owner is often a layperson who doesn't understand the EC process. You are supposed to be the expert, you are the one who needs to make clear what the scope of services is. From your statements numbered 1 and 2 in the OP, I did not get the feeling you yourself have a clear understanding of the variety in scope an EC contains.

Also, I am still curious as to how you "established" the BFE.

Let me clarify. I am familiar with the typical elevation certificate. As I said in the OP, I have never worked on a pre-construction EC (as the certifying PS, I have completed the field work for them before I was licensed).

Again, the 2-3 conversations I had with the client prior to her signing my contract centered around the existing house. The fact that she was adding a mobile home to the lot was not disclosed until I arrived on site. I guess I should have stopped right there, but I didn't. I knew what field work needed to be done so I completed that. My question pertained to the filling out of the certificate itself. I have since worked that out.

As for the BFE, I collected the required information on site and I am working with a PE colleague to establish the BFE.

> How did you establish the BFE? It requires a hydraulic/hydrologic analysis regardless of what anyone else tells you. Many don't understand that, even some of the FEMA staff.
>

Yes, how will you establish this BFE in a Zone A w/o a BFE? I have worked on several like this recently and the ONLY answer was to hire a hydroligst to calculate the BFE based on topographic surveying completed by us. The topographic survey portion of this can be quite extensive depending on which body of water you are near.

Recently, I was called by a repeat client to do an elevation certificate. I assumed he meant the FEMA kind. When I got to the site, turned out he needed me to determine the elevation on a certain slab of concrete and a stamped letter certifying what that elevation was.