• Welcome to the new and improved Building Code Forum. We appreciate you being here and hope that you are getting the information that you need concerning all codes of the building trades. This is a free forum to the public due to the generosity of the Sawhorses, Corporate Supporters and Supporters who have upgraded their accounts. If you would like to have improved access to the forum please upgrade to Sawhorse by first logging in then clicking here: Upgrades

State specific certification

The fire inspector certification is formally a part of the regulatory scheme in California while the ICC certifications are simply a certification by a private entity. Correct me if I am wrong but my impression is that the Fire Marshall and fire inspectors operate as a part of the fire department, not the building department.
 
my250r11 said:
I actually TOOK the state....


Jeff, where'd the EDIT button go?
Click to expand...

Sawhorses can edit their post up to 48 hours (2880 minutes) after they make the post. No one else can edit their posts at all. There is a real good reason for the time limit due to past issues with disgruntled people who went back and deleted all the posts they made via edit making many of the posts useless.
 
my250r11 said:
My payment came out in Oct. 2020
Click to expand...
DM me the email address that you used for the Oct Paypal Sawhorse Payment.
Then read this and see if this applies to you:

Sawhorses and Supporters *PLEASE READ* (4th year in a row I posted this)

UPDATED for 2021. It is that time of year again to remind those UNDER THE OLD SYSTEM ($35/$60) 1) We changed software programs 4 years ago. 2) 3 years ago the prices were changed from $35 to $40 for one year and $60 to $75 for 2 year. 3) Paypal cannot change the automatic notification to the...
www.thebuildingcodeforum.com
 
Mark K said:
While many building departments may want ICC certifications the laws cannot require ICC certifications since if they did so it would constitute an improper delegation of a governmental authority to a private entity.

Please provide reference to where you believe there is special requirement for fire inspector.
Click to expand...
In Florida, the ICC tests are used as part of the process for state certification of inspectors, plans examiners and building officials with emphasis on part of. We have a Florida regulatory test (Principals & Practices) along with successfully passing one of the ICC tests and then the hard part is qualifying with experience and getting approved by the State Board, most of the time in person and under oath. So the ICC may be a private entity but their testing is recognized as part of the certification process.
 
jar546 said:
Sawhorses can edit their post up to 48 hours (2880 minutes) after they make the post. No one else can edit their posts at all. There is a real good reason for the time limit due to past issues with disgruntled people who went back and deleted all the posts they made via edit making many of the posts useless.
Click to expand...

Ohhhh

A couple of reasons you cannot edit.

This one is a good idea


Yep went back a few days to check, and you cannot edit your own posts after a few days.
 
Last edited:
cda said:
A couple of reasons you cannot edit.

This one is a good idea


Yep went back a few days to check, and you cannot edit your own posts after a few days.
Click to expand...

Kinda like voting isn't it ....or is it?
 
CT has state specific licensing/test which is required and a class....With the right certs or experience, the State can let you waive the class and just sit for the test.
 
Rick18071 said:
In PA you need to take the ICC tests but don't need the ICC cert. But I keep my ICC certs especially my MCP cert which looks good on a resume.
Click to expand...
Interesting, does the state administer the test then? It seems like if you pass the ICC test you get the ICC cert, or are you saying that you just don't have to maintain them through ICC?
 
Does the IRC certification exam include questions on plumbing, mechanical, or electrical? I was assuming the IRC test would be harder than the CRC test because the code book is twice as big, but I saw in another thread somebody said that the IRC certification only tests chapters 1-10. If that's true then it's very similar to the CRC test.

Is the plumbing, electrical, and mechanical information that is in the IRC directly out of the IPC/IMC/NEC? I have access to a copy of an older IRC and the plumbing/mechanical is different that the Uniform Codes that CA uses, but it appears that the electrical comes from the NEC. Since ICC also offers Residential Plumbing/Mechanical/Electric certs it seems redundant for that to be included in the IRC cert exam.

Is the IRC certification generally considered harder to pass than the IBC? Or was that just a misconception my previous boss had? Thanks again for all the input.
 
Joe,
The scope of the Residential Inspector tests are found in the National Certification Examination Information Bulletin. The B1 Certification test (for RESIDENTIAL BUILDING INSPECTOR) does NOT cover any of the content for the mechanical (M1), plumbing (P1) or electrical (E1) inspector certifications.
 
Inspector Gift said:
Joe,
The scope of the Residential Inspector tests are found in the National Certification Examination Information Bulletin. The B1 Certification test (for RESIDENTIAL BUILDING INSPECTOR) does NOT cover any of the content for the mechanical (M1), plumbing (P1) or electrical (E1) inspector certifications.
Click to expand...
That makes a lot more sense. I'll dig into information bulletin more. It's a relief to know that the exams I have already passed are going to be very similar to the national certs. The plumbing and mechanical will be different, but from what I can see it's only a few small differences such as the allowance for AAV's which are not permitted by UPC. I'm not planning on moving soon, but it's nice to know that if I do the exams will be similar. Reading through all these posts it's very clear that each state is very different, but in reality it's all similar enough that if you can make it work in one state, you're likely to be able to make it in another.
 
Mark K said:
In California there is no such thing as a state specific certification of inspectors. There is Health and Safety Code section 18949.28 which requires some certification from a source determined by the local agency. Thus it is up to the local agency to determine which certifications are acceptable as a condition of employment.

The reality is that there is relatively few differences between the IBC the California Building Code. As an employee of a local building department you will not be inspecting schools or hospitals.
Click to expand...

? CA through DSA offers certification and continuing ed required for school and OSHPD inspectors.
ACIA's RCI exam and certification is considered an equivilent to ICC and is a more comprehensive 8 hr exam.
 
Local building departments are not involved in plan checking and permitting of projects under the authority of DSA or OSHPD a point I tried to make clear.

ACIA is not a part of the regulatory process.

Unless a certification is a part of the regulatory process obtaining the certification from a private body does not bestow any legal rights on the individual with the certification.
 
Mark K said:
Local building departments are not involved in plan checking and permitting of projects under the authority of DSA or OSHPD a point I tried to make clear.

ACIA is not a part of the regulatory process.

Unless a certification is a part of the regulatory process obtaining the certification from a private body does not bestow any legal rights on the individual with the certification.
Click to expand...
In our jurisdiction there is a State University and we are not involved with anything they do. Same for public schools. We have done some permitting for Charter schools. I'm interested in the OSHPD jurisdiction, I'll have to dig a little bit on that. There is a hospital "complex" built long before I ever worked here, but we have done a few re-roof permits for some of the peripheral buildings, and they recently submitted to us for a large Tesla battery system. There's also a new clinic that is going to begin construction soon, they applied for permits through us that we processed and issued, although we sent the plans to 4Leaf for the review, and they will send an OSHPD certified inspector out on three different occasions specifically to check OSHPD requirements.

I recognize that an ICC certification does not bestow any legal rights, but they are a requirement for my job title. ICC offers CA specific certifications and that's what I have taken so far, primarily because the CA Building Standards Code (Title 24) is what we use and what I have available for testing. What I find interesting is that I have yet to see a job posting in CA that requires CA specific certifications. As mentioned the CBC is not very dissimilar to IBC, but the CPC and CMC are based off of the UPC/UMC, not IPC/IMC.
 
As usual. "it depends" on an agencies acceptance as minimum qualifications a given type, ICC, ACIA, etc.
 
Joe.B said:
As a new inspector in California I have been taking the ICC certification exams that are specific to CA. My reason for this is that I use the CA building code books, and have access to those books for studying and testing. My new boss (5th Building Official in 3 years, it's been rough) has used the ICC certifications with the opinion that if he ever moves out of CA then his certifications are still useful. So I have three questions:

1. If you're in a state that has unique certifications, do you recommend that certification, or the general ICC certifications and why?

2. Does anybody have experience comparing the state specific exams to the general exams?

3. Does your city/county/state organization accept or recognize a state specific certification if it's not your state? For example if I applied for an inspector position in your state (not CA) would I need to re-take all of my certifications?

Thanks for your time.
Click to expand...
State specific surely limits any future move outside of California. However, some jurisdictions appreciate the added effort and might choose you over someone who has the base model cert.
2) the specific are more involved due the complexity of looking up material. The added California language is not in the INDEX. You must know where it is if you need the text to answer that version. Much more difficult.
3) Out of state certs are normally not accepted for hire, but may be considered as you would have some experience and code knowledge, especially if it is in an area that jurisdiction is lacking. Most likely another test would be required to meet the HR job description for qualifications.
 
Ed Cooke said:
State specific surely limits any future move outside of California. However, some jurisdictions appreciate the added effort and might choose you over someone who has the base model cert.
2) the specific are more involved due the complexity of looking up material. The added California language is not in the INDEX. You must know where it is if you need the text to answer that version. Much more difficult.
3) Out of state certs are normally not accepted for hire, but may be considered as you would have some experience and code knowledge, especially if it is in an area that jurisdiction is lacking. Most likely another test would be required to meet the HR job description for qualifications.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the input. I've continued to get the CA specific certs, primarily because that's what I use at work, and what I have access too for the tests. So far it's going well, I've passed six exams.
 
ICC used to have reciprocity with some state specific certs, so it may be that what you get in CA could convert (on some level) should you ever leave the sun or just want both. You may need to actually speak with someone at ICC to find the answer. If not, I would consider taking the ICC version around the same time as the CA version as my guess is the differences would be evident and unlikely to have a significant impact on the tests. If your CBO only uses the ICC then there must be some form of reciprocity the other way. In that case, maybe ICC certs would be the first choice.
 
A few years back ICC put on a multiple day seminar on the California code differences from the generic ICC code. My certifications were essentially doubled upon completion of the seminar because I automatically gained California Code certifications. My employer paid for the seminar.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top