There may be some confusion here. Bill Brooks is referring to work being done and the original post, unless I am mistaken, referred to plan checking. Aside from the fact that the work being proposed needs to be done by a duly licensed contractor, the plans may be the product of just about anyone with or without any credentials.
The plan checking arm of any AHJ has wide latitude as to who might certify the conformance of the plans to relevant codes. I have found in my dealings in Southern California, that the less the plan checker knows, the greater their insistence on independent review. While this approach makes sense for large and complex jobs, in other cases it is no more than a convenient excuse to shield their ignorance. I digress. The most blatant example of I have encountered occurred in a town in Orange County; where the Planning Department refused to approve a supply side feed. I appealed their decision, offering to bring to a meeting my tabbed NEC 2008 Handbook, articles by experts, and a written opinion by the chief of Planning of the City of San Diego to no avail. It turned out they did offer one way out: if we retained the services of a registered PE not just any PE but one from their pre-approved list. Two calls and one hour later I found out the price for this service was $1,500, and we were taking about a 4000W inverter and a 100A service panel. We opted for a 200A panel upgrade, for less than that amount. I consider this an example of a convenient excuse and essentially extortion. Back my main point. I think that my suggestion to use a NABCEP Certified Installer sticker might not be appropriate since the tag at the bottom of the sticker says This photovoltaic system was *installed* by a national Certified Solar PV Installer. I think Ezra's idea of attaching a business card with the appropriate NABCEP Certified Installer logo, the installers name and certification number -- is a great one. One final shot: I think that the NABCEP Certification is amply and openly documented. If an informed AHJ feels comfortable dealing with someone so certified, that's their prerogative, and theirs alone. - Peter Peter T. Parrish, Ph.D., President California Solar Engineering, Inc. 820 Cynthia Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90065 CA Lic. 854779, NABCEP Cert. 031806-26 [email protected] Ph 323-258-8883, Mobile 323-839-6108, Fax 323-258-8885 ________________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bill Brooks Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 8:11 PM To: 'RE-wrenches' Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] NABCEP Stamp Andrew and Troy, While I cant speak for NABCEP, I would expect that NABCEP should be very opposed to this type of use of their logo. NABCEP does not certify the work that a NABCEP certificant does. They only certify that the installer has met the obligations for certification. There is a HUGE difference between the two. NABCEP cannot, and should not, be held accountable for work that someone does in the field. A contactors work is covered by the state laws and the licenses required to perform that work in that state. Just because a local jurisdictions thinks that getting a certification from NABCEP means something to the installation, does not mean that the information should be on the plan set. Information about the certification of the installer should be provided separately. Dont make a stamp, whatever you do. Bill. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Andrew Truitt Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 10:57 AM To: RE-wrenches Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] NABCEP Stamp Troy - I have not encountered this before but would you mind sharing what city agency you are refering to? NABCEP is always interested in hearing about these types of "unconventional" uses of the certification. _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: [email protected] Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org
