Construction without a permit (ethical dilemma)
Construction without a permit (ethical dilemma)
(OP)
I am employed for a civil engineering firm that performed the engineering design for a small structure. We are working for an architect that did the architectural design of the structure.
We were just informed by the architect that the contractor has not obtained any permits on work performed thus far (nearly completed under the original scope). I do not know if the owner is aware of this or not. The architect is requesting engineering from us for another addition to the project.
Should we notify the owner in writing that it has come to our attention that the contractor may not have secured the proper permits . . .etc., etc., etc? Should we refuse to do the additional engineering? Should we notify the building department? Should we perform the additional engineering and not worry about it? It is the owner's responsibility, after all, to secure all necessary permits.
We have only worked for this architect one time before, so they are not necessarily an "A" client (i.e. any lost work or burned bridges would not be the end of the world).
Keep in mind, the 2004 "Board Rules" Code of Professional Conduct states, "A licensee shall not knowlingly permit the publication or use of his or her data, reports, plans, or other professional documents for unlawful purposes."
I am interested to hear what everyone thinks. Thanks in advance for your responses.
We were just informed by the architect that the contractor has not obtained any permits on work performed thus far (nearly completed under the original scope). I do not know if the owner is aware of this or not. The architect is requesting engineering from us for another addition to the project.
Should we notify the owner in writing that it has come to our attention that the contractor may not have secured the proper permits . . .etc., etc., etc? Should we refuse to do the additional engineering? Should we notify the building department? Should we perform the additional engineering and not worry about it? It is the owner's responsibility, after all, to secure all necessary permits.
We have only worked for this architect one time before, so they are not necessarily an "A" client (i.e. any lost work or burned bridges would not be the end of the world).
Keep in mind, the 2004 "Board Rules" Code of Professional Conduct states, "A licensee shall not knowlingly permit the publication or use of his or her data, reports, plans, or other professional documents for unlawful purposes."
I am interested to hear what everyone thinks. Thanks in advance for your responses.





RE: Construction without a permit (ethical dilemma)
1. First of all I would think the Owner and Architect would require a copy of the building permit to be sent to them. I've seen this requirement in some specs. and while working for a contractor, I always made it a practice to send a copy of the permit to the Owner and Architect.
2. Nothing gets a building inspector's hackles up faster than someone trying to pull a fast one. I never understood the guys that do this stuff, what PO the inspector? You have to satify him throughout the entire job, this stuff just makes it worse.
3. Now that you know about the situation, you have to do something. I would first notify your Architect and the Contractor that you are aware that the permit was not taken out. I would tell them that if you don't recieve a copy of the permit within X days, you will have to notify the building department. That way you let the contractor try to patch things up, but if he doesn't you can still blow the whistle. There is no sense in shutting the job down, if you can convince the Contradtor to do the right thing. It is always possible that they forgot to apply for it???
RE: Construction without a permit (ethical dilemma)
If you are even considering the follow-on job with the architect put a provision in the contract that makes the architect responsible for your work being used in a lawful manner.
RE: Construction without a permit (ethical dilemma)
If the permits are in place then all I would do is inform the architect that he was mistaken.
If the permits are not in place then you have an ethical obligation to inform the appropriate authorities of your knowledge of someone breaking the law. You also have an obligation not to further participate in this project until all permits are in place. You can continue to do design work, just not release it to the contractor for inclusion in an un-permitted project.
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com
RE: Construction without a permit (ethical dilemma)
RE: Construction without a permit (ethical dilemma)
RE: Construction without a permit (ethical dilemma)
RE: Construction without a permit (ethical dilemma)
To continue - I don't see how the designer can provide any further input. You also, as a professional engineer, have an obligation to the public. Without a permit, there might be some liability as to not protecting the public; this is why I would believe that you have the obligation to bring this to the attention of the client and authorities -[orange]put it on record[/orange]. They can then investigate; if found to be no problem, no skin off anyone's back; if found to be in contravention of legalities, then the chips should fall.
RE: Construction without a permit (ethical dilemma)
Ethically, the design specifications stand-alone as a completed work product. Legal advice should really be left up to the lawyers. Now, if your morally doesn’t allow you to stick within the bounds of what you are contracted to do, that is up to you, you can always refuse to do any additional work on the project.
It would be interesting to hear what happened with the project and how it was delt with.
RE: Construction without a permit (ethical dilemma)
RE: Construction without a permit (ethical dilemma)
RE: Construction without a permit (ethical dilemma)
There are a lot of somethings that can be done before notifying the building department directly and potentially damaging a client relationship. But, IMHO, once you know of the violation, you are bound by your professional responsibilities to take some positive action.
You could say, "ignorance is bliss" in some cases.