HUD/Foundation Engineering danger?

David Hendricks · 11-16-2010, 01:57 PM

I have been doing foundation inspections for a while now, with a couple of different Engineering companies, and something interesting was recently brought to my attention. Apparently an Engineer has to be licensed in the specific state that the inspection is done in, so If I do an inspection in Waycross, GA, the engineer has to be licensed in GA, whether or not his office is here or not. I have family on a State board of Engineers out west, and was talking about how this has been pretty good to me, $100-$200 for about 20 minutes of work, and was told that I needed to be careful.

I guess my question is, Is there any way to tell the Engineer you are working with is Licensed in your state?

Not only are these State Boards going after the Engineers that are working with out a license, but I guess they are talking to the State inspector boards about whos been working with them, is there any sort of Liability in this for me if I did an inspection for an unlicensed engineer?

That was two questions, Sorry! Any Help would be greatly appreciated!

Dave

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**Scott Patterson** · 11-16-2010, 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by David Hendricks

I have been doing foundation inspections for a while now, with a couple of different Engineering companies, and something interesting was recently brought to my attention. Apparently an Engineer has to be licensed in the specific state that the inspection is done in, so If I do an inspection in Waycross, GA, the engineer has to be licensed in GA, whether or not his office is here or not. I have family on a State board of Engineers out west, and was talking about how this has been pretty good to me, $100-$200 for about 20 minutes of work, and was told that I needed to be careful.

I guess my question is, Is there any way to tell the Engineer you are working with is Licensed in your state?

Not only are these State Boards going after the Engineers that are working with out a license, but I guess they are talking to the State inspector boards about whos been working with them, is there any sort of Liability in this for me if I did an inspection for an unlicensed engineer?

That was two questions, Sorry! Any Help would be greatly appreciated!

Dave

Well, I guess you need to ask them if they hold a current license in your state. I think the bulk of the liability falls on their shoulders, but you never know.

I use Hayman Engineering. I know that they are licensed in my state TN, and I'm pretty sure they hold a license in just about every other state. Welcome to Hayman Residential Engineering Services Inc.

Bill Jacques · 11-22-2010, 07:50 PM

I have used Hayman Eng many times , go to the website that Scott posted.

**Bill Scott** · 11-27-2010, 06:46 PM

If you are doing a HUD inspection you should be furnished foundation drawings from the engineer. The drawings should have the engineers seal showing his license number for the state where you are doing the inspection. How are you going to do the inspection with out knowing what you are going to inspect? You are required under HUD rules to have a copy of the foundation drawings before you do the inspection, if not available you are to fill out the HUD 92051 and walk away.

You state you are doing the inspection for the engineering company. So the engineering company is your client. I would think that the burden should be on them and not you.

I work as a fee inspector in Oklahoma. In this state, my services are used mainly for inspections done for manufactured homes. Most of the foundation designs are done by RCS Enterprises in Allen, TX. They have a couple of engineers on staff that hold a OK engineers license. Their seal must appear on the foundation plans or they will not be accepted by the mortgage companies.

If you are doing inspections for an engineers certification of the foundation most likely the engineering company has been contacted by a mortgage company for an engineers certification letter on the foundation. Again, the engineering company is your client and the engineering companies client is the mortgage company. The mortgage company should verify if the engineer is licensed to do business in your state. I am not an attorney, but I can see no liability on your part.

**Bruce Breedlove** · 11-28-2010, 12:09 PM

You can contact the State Board of Registration of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (that's what it is called in Georgia anyway) and ask if the person has an active PE license.

**Steve Frederickson** · 11-29-2010, 09:26 AM

There is a board of registration for engineers in each states. Most state boards have a web site with a link to check a license. If you know the engineer's name, you can check on-line to see if he/she is licensed.

Also, several states have a policy of comity or reciprocity. Some states prohibit work if the engineer is not licensed in that state, but they can get licensed relatively quickly through reciprocity. Other states have a policy of allowing occasional work by engineers who are licensed in other states (for example, they can work on a single project not exceeding 30 days per year, etc.).

So, just because he/she is not licensed in that state does not necessarily mean that he/she can't do any work. It depends on the state. The state's policy is usually also listed on the board's wbe site.

In short, you're best off checking with the engineer.

**Gary Bottomley** · 11-30-2010, 06:36 AM

Originally Posted by Bill Scott

If you are doing a HUD inspection you should be furnished foundation drawings from the engineer. The drawings should have the engineers seal showing his license number for the state where you are doing the inspection. How are you going to do the inspection with out knowing what you are going to inspect? You are required under HUD rules to have a copy of the foundation drawings before you do the inspection, if not available you are to fill out the HUD 92051 and walk away.

You state you are doing the inspection for the engineering company. So the engineering company is your client. I would think that the burden should be on them and not you.

I work as a fee inspector in Oklahoma. In this state, my services are used mainly for inspections done for manufactured homes. Most of the foundation designs are done by RCS Enterprises in Allen, TX. They have a couple of engineers on staff that hold a OK engineers license. Their seal must appear on the foundation plans or they will not be accepted by the mortgage companies.

If you are doing inspections for an engineers certification of the foundation most likely the engineering company has been contacted by a mortgage company for an engineers certification letter on the foundation. Again, the engineering company is your client and the engineering companies client is the mortgage company. The mortgage company should verify if the engineer is licensed to do business in your state. I am not an attorney, but I can see no liability on your part.

Bill:
I suspect that you are talking about doing an inspection on a new manufactured home (never been occupied) while David and some of the other responses (Scott P. referring to Hayman) are talking about existing manufactured homes, usually for re-purchase or even re-finance for the original owner where the Structural Engineer is certifying that the foundation basically meets the structural intent of the original HUD Foundation guidelines.
But, under either program, you should make sure your engineer is registered by the state where the home is located.

William Corbett · 02-14-2011, 05:22 AM

Its very true you have to be a licensed engineer in each state you are working in. Although you are not operating as a engineer you are simply taking pictures for a person that claims to be a engineer. To cover yourself ask this engineer for his state license number and draw up a hold harmless agreement validating you as only taking pictures of what your hired for and are in no way operating as a engineer for him,then have him sign and notorize it! In many inspection situations there are questions and in all of these cases I cover myself anyway and if the client does not want to sign it RUN!!!

Originally Posted by David Hendricks

I have been doing foundation inspections for a while now, with a couple of different Engineering companies, and something interesting was recently brought to my attention. Apparently an Engineer has to be licensed in the specific state that the inspection is done in, so If I do an inspection in Waycross, GA, the engineer has to be licensed in GA, whether or not his office is here or not. I have family on a State board of Engineers out west, and was talking about how this has been pretty good to me, $100-$200 for about 20 minutes of work, and was told that I needed to be careful.

I guess my question is, Is there any way to tell the Engineer you are working with is Licensed in your state?

Not only are these State Boards going after the Engineers that are working with out a license, but I guess they are talking to the State inspector boards about whos been working with them, is there any sort of Liability in this for me if I did an inspection for an unlicensed engineer?

That was two questions, Sorry! Any Help would be greatly appreciated!

Dave

Jeffrey Block · 02-14-2011, 07:42 AM

Speaking as an engineer, this sounds scary for both the home inspector and engineer in terms of liability and basic risk management. Why would either party want to get in bed with the other? Not to mention depending on a contractor to make any compliance improvements. No wonder your family on an engineering board told you to be careful

If something should go wrong and your the only local party and the engineer is out of state good luck