excerpt from WA law
Apartments, condominiums, and townhouses. Single-family dwellings, duplexes, or multiple-family dwellings up to and including 4 units, generally do not require an architect-of-record. Such buildings DO REQUIRE an architect for the “enclosure” as explained in item #2 below. All other multiple-family buildings, (over 4 units per building) need an engineer or architect of record to prepare ALL submittal drawings, including the site plan and interior plans.
Apartments, condominiums, and townhouses. (Effective August 1, 2005) All new, multi-family buildings, townhouses, attached-single-family dwellings, row-houses, and similar multi-unit residential buildings, including multi-unit apartment buildings and condominiums, that contain MORE THAN two (2) attached dwelling units require a state-licensed architect to stamp and sign all building enclosure design documents (together with a special statement regarding the design) in order to satisfy legislative mandates from Washington State regarding the weatherproofing, waterproofing, and other protections from water or moisture intrusion of the aforementioned buildings.
Design-build construction. The architect’s licensing laws allow “design-build” construction to take place by registered general contractors if the design services are performed by a registered engineer. As defined in the state law, design-build construction is where one single entity, the design-build firm, offers a single contract to someone for both designing and building a project. Thus, the general contractor and the engineer or architect must be co-owners, partners, or employees of the same firm.
Commercial buildings over 4000 s.f. of floor area must have an architect or engineer of record for the entire building. For pre-engineered buildings, an engineer will design the metal building and perhaps the foundation, but that engineer is usually not willing to act as the engineer of record for the entire project. Consequently, they will not stamp any supplemental drawings, such as the site plan or the interior floor plan for improvements inside the building. Required supplemental drawings beyond the pre-engineered building drawings must bear the stamp of the architect or engineer of record for the entire project. Remember, the building code definition of floor area is used to calculate the 4000 s.f., and that definition includes exterior roof-covered areas that are useable space, such as porches, carports, drive-thru’s, etc. It also includes basement areas and attic areas, even if used as storage.
Additions, alterations and remodels to commercial buildings must be stamped by an architect or engineer whenever the existing building is already over 4000 s.f., or when the addition will bring the total s.f. to over 4000. This applies to all additions, including even small additions. All submitted documents must bear the stamp of the engineer or architect in order to ensure that the project has been evaluated in all aspects by the architect or engineer, not just those of the addition itself. This includes the site plan and plans showing the interface between the existing building and the addition. As mentioned above in item #2, someone must act as architect or engineer of record for the entire building
