Code Q&A: Answers to Common and Challenging Code Questions

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Code Q&A:Answers to Common and Challenging Code Questions

Build Pittsburgh - 2017

Question:• When does a client need to pull a building permit?

Occupancy permit (New Tenant but same use type)?

What is the purpose?• Designs by Licensed Design Professional• Built by Licensed, Insured Contractors• Special Inspections and independent testing

requirements

So why:• Zoning review and approval?• Building Code Plan Review?• Building Inspections?

What is the purpose?

• Verification that work complies with the code.

• That a completed project is legal.

What is the Process?

PLI Permit ProcessApplication

• ApplicationPlan Review

• Plan ReviewApproval

• ApprovalPermit

Issuance• Permit Issuance

Inspection• Inspections

Final• Final Inspection

Certificate of

Occupancy

• Certificate of Occupancy

Permit review:

1. What is the application for?

2. What code is applied?

3. What is the existing legal use?

1. What is the Application for?

•Are the scope of work, and occupancy descriptions accurate? Does it match the drawings?

• Is it also a change in use?

• What code was the project designed to? • There are alternatives for existing buildings.

• How is this determined?

Certificate of OccupancyIs the document issued by the AHJ, City of Pittsburgh, upon completion of a project verifying it is now legal to use.

Means that it has been approved, inspected, and determined compliant with the Codes in effect at the time of construction for a particular use.

Certificate of Occupancy• Use of the building / property stays legal -until

changes are made

• Regardless of Ownership• Regardless of Tenant changes• Regardless of Name changes

Question:• When does a client need to pull a building permit?

Occupancy permit (New Tenant but same use type)?

Question:• Types of occupancy permits (Certificate of

Occupancy / Temporary CO / Partial Occupancy), how each one is used, and application procedures for each.

Certificate of OccupancyWhen changes are made to the use of a building, a new Certificate of Occupancy is required – each time.

- Requiring:- Department of City Planning / Zoning approval - PLI / Building Code approval

Question:• Interface with Department of City Planning on

applications for CO / TCO / Partial Occupancy. Specifically, hashing out the wording of the occupancy description (this seems to be a constant struggle with Planning).

Question:• Discussion about existing Certificates of Occupancy.

What determines if new work can be performed under an existing CO, or if a new one needs to be obtained? How does the wording of the occupancy description impact this?

When there is no existing Certificate of Occupancy

• This is defined as ‘UNCERTIFIED’ per the PA UCC 403.28

• 403.28 (a) – Structures built prior to April 27, 1927 are deemed legally occupied – until changes are made.

• 403.28 (b) – Structures under the Dept. of Labor and Industry Jurisdiction

• 403.28 (c) – Structures under the jurisdiction of the City of Pittsburgh, and NOT falling under 403.28 (a).

When there is no existing Certificate of Occupancy

403.28 (c) – Structures under the jurisdiction of the City of Pittsburgh, and NOT governed under 403.28 (a).

(1) A construction code official shall issue a certificate of occupancy to an uncertified building if it meets the requirements of the latest version of the “International Existing Building Code” or Chapter 34 of the International Building Code”.

Question:Can you talk about the various issues around NOT having an occupancy permit:

a. If there is a permit but the building is clearly being used for another purpose. What is the occupancy, can IEBC be used or must Chapter 34 be followed?

(b) If there is only a permit for part of the building, for example the upper floor apartments but not the retail use on the ground floor and basement, what is the occupancy, can IEBC be used or must Chapter 34 be followed?

How does the age of the building affect questions (a) and (b)?

Does the City of Pittsburgh use a date other than April 27, 1927, as referenced in UCC 403.28(a)?

Codes for Existing Buildings:Options given to the Design Professional:

A. IBC Chapter 34 (with accessibility provisions from IEBC)1- Prescriptive2- Compliance Alternative (Scoring method) <Nov 4, 1947

B. IEBC:1 – Prescriptive2 – Work Area3 – Performance (Scoring method) – <Nov 4, 1947

Question:• I’m confused by IBC Chapter 34, 3412.6 Evaulation Process,

reading in part, “In applying this section to a building with mixed occupancies, where the separation between the mixed occupancies does not qualify for any category indicated in Section 3412.6.16, the score for each occupancy shall be determined and the lower score determined for each section of the evaluation process shall apply to the entire building.”

• Am I correct that, for example, 3412.6.1 Building Height is evaluated for the lowest score of a mixed, unseparated residential occupancy and then for a mixed, unseparated retail occupancy with the lowest of those two scores then being used in filling out ONE Table 3412.7 for the building?

Compliance Alternative Method (IBC Section 3412 or IEBC Chapter 13)

• Yes.

• Mixed Occupancies (Use Group Classifications)–

• Separated – Fill out separate tables for each occupancy group

• Non-Separated – Fill out one table taking the lowest / worst case score in each category

Question:• Occupancy verses Use: How rooms become assembly

in a business occupancy and how occupant load and construction types are impacted.

Occupant Loads and Occupancy Classification

• Occupancy Classification and Occupant Load calculations are related but independently determined by the Use

• (Actual use / purpose / function).

Occupancy Classification• Actual use / function / purpose determines Occupancy

Classification

• IBC Chapter 3

Use and Occupancy Classification

• IBC Chapter 3

• IBC 304 – Business – includes “…the use of a building or structure, or a portion thereof, for office, professional or service-type transactions…”

• IBC 303.1 – Assembly – includes “… the use of a building or structure, or portion thereof, for the gathering of persons for the purposes such as civic, social or religious functions; recreation, food or drink consumption or awaiting transportation.”

Use and Occupancy Classification

• Assembly Areas:• Exceptions under IBC 303.1

• Room / space used for assembly with occupant load of less than 50 people

• Room / space used for assembly that is less than 750 sf and accessory to another occupancy

Occupant Loads• Actual use / function / purpose determines Occupant

• Smaller occupant loads may qualify for exceptions to the Occupancy Classification

What Occupancy Classification / Occupant loads?

• Offices?• Flex spaces for presentations / lectures / training rooms?• Open office areas with 50+ people?• Call centers?• Conference centers / rooms?• Cafeterias?• Roof top decks / Social gathering spaces?

Question:• Occupancy verses Use: How rooms become assembly

in a business occupancy and how occupant load and construction types are impacted.

Construction Type• Limited by Occupancy Classification• NOT by Occupant Load

Question:• I’m confused about Table 503 building heights. If I

have a two story building Type 5B with an R1 occupancy on the first story less than 5,000 sq. ft., but there is a single story A-1 occupancy less than 5,000 sq. ft. on the second story, (where 1 story, 5,500 sq. ft. is permitted) is that OK by Table 503 alone since the A-1 occupancy is only on one story?

• NO. A1 Occupancy Classification on a 2nd Story of a Type 5B building is not permitted.

Question:• Construction Type and rating requirements in existing

buildings: How to document existing construction to meet building code requirements.

Permit review:

1. What is the application for?

Existing Construction Type

• What is the first place to look for existing conditions of approval?

• How do we know if the project is a Change in Occupancy?

• What is the scope of work?

Determining Fire Ratings• Options for determining fire ratings:

• Listed tested assemblies (such as UL Design)• Prescriptive Fire Resistance (IBC Tables 720)• Calculated Fire Resistance (IBC 721)• Archaic Materials and Assemblies (IEBC Resource A)

Question:• If I need a 2 hour or 3 hour horizontal separation for a

building do the beams and columns supporting that separation need a 2 hour or 3 hour fire rating?

Supporting Construction?• Yes.

• IBC 712.4 Continuity. “…The supporting construction shall be protected to afford the required fire-resistance rating of the horizontal assembly supported.”

Question:• Is the City planning to adopt the entire 2015

International Residential Code? Why or why not?

• Is there any work being done within PLI to advocate for adoption of the most recent ICC Codes within Pennsylvania? As it is my understanding that code inspectors can only test to the most recent version of the ICC Codes, and enforcing to a previous version is onerous for PLI.

What are the current codes in effect?

• PA UCC – 2009 base year I-Codes• With 2015 Accessibility provisions

• http://www.dli.pa.gov/ucc/Pages/default.aspx

• What codes were in effect when the design contract was executed?

• Alternatives for Existing buildings

Permit Review Times:

Question:• A $5 million hospital equipment upgrade (that will

benefit thousands of patients in the area) is placed in the same queue with a residential garage roof replacement. Can the City be asked why this situation exists and what can be done to expedite the Building Permit process?

Question:• The backlog for getting a Permit in the last year has

been consistently as long as 6 weeks, particularly for smaller projects that can be a crippling time frame in moving forward with a very simple project. Is there any movement towards separating Projects by size? Or cost? Or a separate Single Family Residential Review Process – given that these projects are typically far more straightforward.

Question:• Single Family Residential Additions and Renovations

tend to be far more straightforward than larger projects. It used to be that you could walk in to apply for a Permit for an addition or renovation and move through the process fairly easily. If an engineer was free they would look over the submission right away and provide a review – either issuing a Permit or requesting more information. Will there be any sort of simplification for these types of Projects in the future as opposed to getting in line with the other much larger Projects?

Question:• Why did PLI stop the Thursday afternoon walk-through

reviews?...

• Why did the department eliminate (or not have a replacement for) the expedited permit approval for small projects?

• Review not Required• Most Residential alterations• Commercial with no drawings required• Same day / over the counter

• Residential – • Initial Application– 15 business days• Re-review– 8 business days

• Commercial – • Initial Application– 30 business days• Re-review – 15 business days

PLI Review times

Where am I in the process?• Building Eye:

• http://pittsburghpa.gov/pli/

• Permits Pending Review List:• http://pittsburghpa.gov/pli/

Preliminary Review / Code Consultations

Question:• In the past, PLI (BBI) would meet with project teams to

go over preliminary code reviews to provide guidance early in the project. Our intent in those discussions was to gain any insight that the plan reviewer may be able to provide to point the design team toward a compliant end. Now that PLI will not meet with design tames to provide that initial insight, it places a potential financial burden on project teams and clients…

Question:• If the PLI plan reviewer interprets the code differently

after all the detailing is done, then the design team or the client may be responsible for significant redesign costs. Therefore, will PLI put into place a method/process for design teams to get early insight to assist them in moving toward compliance?

Question:• Why is there no feedback on code questions until we

submit the entire project and wait for 6 weeks?

• Typically No preliminary reviews.• Final construction documents are reviewed for

construction permits.

• Use the ICC Code Commentaries• Use Interpretations at ICC / City of Pittsburgh Bulletins

• City of Pittsburgh Major Development Reviews• http://pittsburghpa.gov/dcp/zoning/major-development

Questions during design

• Use the Permit Application as a guide:• http://pittsburghpa.gov/pli/

Does this meet code?

• Use the Plan Review checklists guide:• http://pittsburghpa.gov/pli/

• Variances and Appeals• Building Code: Board of Appeals

• Accessibility Requirements: PA Dept. of Labor and Industry Accessibility Board

• When to apply for a variance?• Can apply during design – Do not need to wait for a plan

review denial.

Third Party Agency Services

Question:• Why are 3rd party reviews for architectural portions

not permitted as a compliance path?

Question:• Can you clarify for us what inspectors work directly for

the City and which Inspectors are a Third Party?...

Third Party Plan Review / Inspections

Temporary Measures currently in place for:• Plan Review:

• Commercial Electrical• Fire Protection Systems (Fire sprinkler, Fire Alarm Sysetms)

• Inspection:• Electrical – Commercial and Residential

Question:• Will there be a process that allows for the General

Contractor to call for all of the Inspections to expedite the process? As opposed to the Electrical having to call for Electrical Inspection, the HVAC sub calling for the HVAC inspection, etc.

• Permits are issued separately for each discipline• Building Permits• Demolition• Electrical• Mechanical• Fire Protection

• Each permit holder is responsible for the work under their permit, and to provide access for inspections.

Separate permits

• Have Copies of all permits• All approved Drawings• Inspection Records

Records on Site

How can it be faster?

How can it be faster?• Get it right the at first plan review

• Complete Application:• Use the correct application forms• Use the checklists available• Submit all documentation with the application

• Verify that the scope of work and occupancy descriptions are accurate at application

How can it be faster?• Application Drawings:

• Are drawings necessary?• Submit Final Construction Drawings – signed/sealed• Provide Code summary sheets and diagrams

• Review process:• Concurrent submission for MEP/FP permits with Building Permit• Phased Permitting• Make formal submission on revisions• Address all comments

How can it be faster?• Inspections:

• Be ready for inspections. Pre-test systems before the inspector arrives!

• Have copies of all permits, approved drawings available• Require use of the Job site sign-off cards

• Provide all copies of required documentation at Final Inspection.

• Final Inspection• All required documentations submitted:

• TPA final inspection reports• Final special inspection reports• All related sub-permits final / complete• Verify Conditions of approval from other Departments

• Certificate of Occupancy Issuance at completion

How can it be faster?