Permit by Provider

[dianium500]

I am having an issue where a private provider is breaking my seal when they apply their stamp to the drawings, and the building department is rejecting the drawings because my seal is no longer valid. This doesn't seem to be an issue with the building department when clients go directly to them for permits. How are other providers handling this? It seems unfair to take time out of the day to have to restamp a set of drawings I've already stamped, not to mention technically have to review again for changes.

 

[Harbringer80]

What is a "private provider"? Is that an external plan reviewer?

I don't know how other "providers" handle this as I'm not familiar with the term.

Sounds like you need to call a supervisor at the building department or contact this "private provider". What do you think people online can do about it?

 

[dianium500]

What is a "private provider"? Is that an external plan reviewer?

I don't know how other "providers" handle this as I'm not familiar with the term.

Sounds like you need to call a supervisor at the building department or contact this "private provider". What do you think people online can do about it?

A permit by provider, or private provider is used in lieu of your traditional government building department. They handle plan reviews and inspections in lieu of the government inspectors and reviewers at the building department. The documents are then sent to the building department for processing of impact/permit fees and are then filed away for record.

I am not expecting anything from anyone other than what they typically experience when their plans go through a private provider. I was hoping someone who offers this service could answer the question, and not some condescending answer about how I need to ask the building department or the provider. The building department doesn't know, and the provider is just going to give me their opinion on this issue. I should not have to reseal their plans after they apply their stamp.

 

[Aesur]

@dianium500 I believe @Harbringer80 is trying to understand what you are even asking, as I too am confused and have never heard this term. If I understand you correctly, you are referring to a 3rd party who does the review in lieu of the building department, whether it be the building department sending to a 3rd party or the owner hiring a 3rd party plan review company. There is one 3rd party plan review company locally here that is sometimes hired and used in lieu of going through the building department, and I have never had to re-seal anything for them.

If this is the case, it sounds like the settings with your seal or method of authentication isn't allowing them to place a reviewed stamp on your drawings without breaking our seal, in which case I believe you would need to provide your documents in such a way that they can add said stamp. Do you use a 3rd party to certify your seal on the drawings, or do you edit security so no one can add comments etc? We sometimes receive shop drawings that are locked down to where we cannot place a shop drawing stamp on the document, we had had to create a cover page to add the stamp, print out and re-scan if the file isn't too large or send back asking for one that allows us to place comments and a shop drawing stamp. It's an absolute pain in the ass to deal with documents with such tight security that everything breaks once you try to add a comment, but technically I believe many states require this by law.

 

[dianium500]

@dianium500 I believe @Harbringer80 is trying to understand what you are even asking, as I too am confused and have never heard this term. If I understand you correctly, you are referring to a 3rd party who does the review in lieu of the building department, whether it be the building department sending to a 3rd party or the owner hiring a 3rd party plan review company. There is one 3rd party plan review company locally here that is sometimes hired and used in lieu of going through the building department, and I have never had to re-seal anything for them.

If this is the case, it sounds like the settings with your seal or method of authentication isn't allowing them to place a reviewed stamp on your drawings without breaking our seal, in which case I believe you would need to provide your documents in such a way that they can add said stamp. Do you use a 3rd party to certify your seal on the drawings, or do you edit security so no one can add comments etc? We sometimes receive shop drawings that are locked down to where we cannot place a shop drawing stamp on the document, we had had to create a cover page to add the stamp, print out and re-scan if the file isn't too large or send back asking for one that allows us to place comments and a shop drawing stamp. It's an absolute pain in the ass to deal with documents with such tight security that everything breaks once you try to add a comment, but technically I believe many states require this by law.

Yes, they are a 3rd party plan review company. The reason I am asking this is that the building department also applies its stamp to the documents, and they don't seem to have the same issue. My security is not so tight that they can't apply stamps through an overlay layer. I just wanted to find out how other PP do this. Seems to add more work for and slows the process down.

 

[Aesur]

Yes, they are a 3rd party plan review company. The reason I am asking this is that the building department also applies its stamp to the documents, and they don't seem to have the same issue. My security is not so tight that they can't apply stamps through an overlay layer. I just wanted to find out how other PP do this. Seems to add more work for and slows the process down.

Sounds like it's their process that is the issue then. Wish I knew an answer to help you, maybe a good solution is to tell them how to apply their review stamps to your drawings if they are used often enough for this to be a pain, as it sounds like may be the case. I would be extremely annoyed having to reseal something after they put their review stamp on it and I would probably refuse (and send the original again) or ask for add services to backcheck to make sure nothing changed.

 

[Ron247]

As others, I am a little fuzzy on the issue. I do see a problem if the 3rd party makes ANY changes to your drawings. Then I could see a local official wanting you to put your official okie dokie on the changes. Other than that, I do not see why they would want you to reseal them.

 

[dianium500]

Sounds like it's their process that is the issue then. Wish I knew an answer to help you, maybe a good solution is to tell them how to apply their review stamps to your drawings if they are used often enough for this to be a pain, as it sounds like may be the case. I would be extremely annoyed having to reseal something after they put their review stamp on it and I would probably refuse (and send the original again) or ask for add services to backcheck to make sure nothing changed.

I am billing them for a reseal. The contractor mentioned that other PE's have a box on their plans where a provider can put their stamp w/o it breaking my digital seal, but I have not found a way to do this if it even exist.

 

[dianium500]

@dianium500 I believe @Harbringer80 is trying to understand what you are even asking, as I too am confused and have never heard this term. If I understand you correctly, you are referring to a 3rd party who does the review in lieu of the building department, whether it be the building department sending to a 3rd party or the owner hiring a 3rd party plan review company. There is one 3rd party plan review company locally here that is sometimes hired and used in lieu of going through the building department, and I have never had to re-seal anything for them.

If this is the case, it sounds like the settings with your seal or method of authentication isn't allowing them to place a reviewed stamp on your drawings without breaking our seal, in which case I believe you would need to provide your documents in such a way that they can add said stamp. Do you use a 3rd party to certify your seal on the drawings, or do you edit security so no one can add comments etc? We sometimes receive shop drawings that are locked down to where we cannot place a shop drawing stamp on the document, we had had to create a cover page to add the stamp, print out and re-scan if the file isn't too large or send back asking for one that allows us to place comments and a shop drawing stamp. It's an absolute pain in the ass to deal with documents with such tight security that everything breaks once you try to add a comment, but technically I believe many states require this by law.

I use a 3rd party for the certificate on the digital seal as required by the board. I am trying to see if I can edit the security settings. I know I don't have it on max security, but it is pretty secure.

 

[STpipe]

I am billing them for a reseal. The contractor mentioned that other PE's have a box on their plans where a provider can put their stamp w/o it breaking my digital seal, but I have not found a way to do this if it even exist.

If I recall with ConsignO (the software we use), there is the option to have multiple signature/stamp boxes, and you can enable a feature with the program that allows other signature/stamp boxes to be digitally signed after you've applied your seal and save the document.