Fact #3 – Interior Designers will no longer be able to work in Commercial Interior Design without the Supervision of an Architect
This issue, unfortunately, seems to be the most confusing. First let’s clarify what an interior design actually does:
- Materials specifications and furniture selection. Does not require a sign and seal.
- Interior construction. Does require a sign and seal. Here is an informal ruling from the Building Code Officials of Florida:
Here is where it states that CDs must be prepared by a registered design professional:
106.1 Submittal documents. Construction documents, a statement of special inspections and other data shall be submitted in one or more sets with each application for a permit. The construction documents shall be prepared by a registered design professional where required by Chapter 471, Florida Statutes or Chapter 481, Florida Statutes. Where special conditions exist, the building official is authorized to require additional construction documents to be prepared by a registered design professional.
Exception: The building official is authorized to waive the submission of construction documents and other data not required to be prepared by a registered design professional if it is found that the nature of the work applied for is such that review of construction documents is not necessary to obtain compliance with this code.
Signing and Sealing
481.221 Seals; display of certificate number.—
(1) The board shall prescribe, by rule, one or more forms of seals to be used by registered architects holding valid certificates of registration.
(2) Each registered architect shall obtain one seal in a form approved by rule of the board and may, in addition, register her or his seal electronically in accordance with ss.
668.001-
668.006.
All final construction documents and instruments of service which include drawings, plans, specifications, or reports prepared or issued by the registered architect and being filed for public record shall bear the signature and seal of the registered architect who prepared or approved the document and the date on which they were sealed. The signature, date, and seal shall be evidence of the authenticity of that to which they are affixed. Final plans, specifications, or reports prepared or issued by a registered architect may be transmitted electronically and may be signed by the registered architect, dated, and sealed electronically with the seal in accordance with ss.
668.001-
668.006.
481.2131 Interior design; practice requirements; disclosure of compensation for professional services.—
(1) A registered interior designer is authorized to perform “interior design” as defined in s.
481.203. Interior design documents prepared by a registered interior designer shall contain a statement that the document is not an architectural or engineering study, drawing, specification, or design and is not to be used for construction of any load-bearing columns, load-bearing framing or walls of structures, or issuance of any building permit, except as otherwise provided by law.
Interior design documents that are prepared and sealed by a registered interior designer may, if required by a permitting body, be submitted for the issuance of a building permit for interior construction excluding design of any structural, mechanical, plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, ventilating, electrical, or vertical transportation systems or that materially affect lifesafety systems pertaining to firesafety protection such as fire-rated separations between interior spaces, fire-rated vertical shafts in multistory structures, fire-rated protection of structural elements, smoke evacuation and compartmentalization, emergency ingress or egress systems, and emergency alarm systems.
And for those of you who want to know where the term “supervision of an architect” comes from… here it is:
(6) No registered architect shall affix her or his signature or seal to any final construction document or instrument of service which includes drawings, plans, specifications, or architectural documents which were not prepared by her or him or under her or his responsible supervising control or by another registered architect and reviewed, approved, or modified and adopted by her or him as her or his own work according to rules adopted by the board.
Primary Source - http://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2010/Chapter481
HB 5005 Link: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=46688
