Planning and Estimating: The Rules the Exam Asks For

The building code exempts listed work from a permit, though exemption never authorizes work that violates the code or other laws. On the building list: one-story detached accessory structures such as sheds and playhouses up to 120 square feet of floor area, which the Wildland-Urban Interface Code may still regulate; fences not over 7 feet high other than swimming pool barriers; retaining walls not over 4 feet high measured from the bottom of the footing, unless supporting a surcharge or impounding Class I, II, or IIIA liquids; water tanks on grade up to 5,000 gallons with a ratio of height to diameter or width of 2:1 or less; sidewalks and driveways not more than 30 inches above adjacent grade that are not over a basement or story below and not part of an accessible route; painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, cabinets, countertops, and similar finish work; prefabricated above-ground swimming pools accessory to a Group R-3 occupancy less than 24 inches deep and 5,000 gallons or less; swings and playground equipment accessory to detached one- and two-family dwellings; window awnings in Group R-3 and U occupancies supported by an exterior wall, projecting not more than 54 inches from it and needing no additional support; and nonfixed and movable fixtures, cases, racks, counters, and partitions not over 5 feet 9 inches high.

Building Code § 105.2

On the trade lists: minor electrical repair work such as replacing lamps or connecting approved portable equipment to approved permanently installed receptacles; portable heating, ventilating, and cooling appliances; stopping leaks in drains or water, soil, waste, or vent pipes, except that replacing a defective concealed pipe with new material is new work needing a permit; and clearing stoppages, repairing leaks in pipes, valves, or fixtures, and removing and reinstalling water closets where no valves, pipes, or fixtures are replaced or rearranged. Emergency equipment replacements and repairs may proceed, with the permit application submitted to the building official by the next working business day.

Building Code § 105.2

A building may not be used or occupied, in whole or in part, and its occupancy may not be changed, until the building official has issued a certificate of occupancy. Issuing the certificate does not approve any violation of the code or other ordinances. Work exempt from permits under Section 105.2 needs no certificate of occupancy.

Building Code § 111.1

The building official may issue a temporary certificate of occupancy before all the work under the permit is complete, provided the portion to be occupied can be occupied safely, and sets a time period for which the temporary certificate is valid.

Building Code § 111.3

The code does not forbid a material, design, or method it does not specifically prescribe, provided the alternative has been approved. Approval comes from the building official, who must find the proposed alternative satisfactory and compliant with the alternative-materials provisions.

Building Code § 104.2.3

Work is installed in accordance with the approved construction documents. Any change made during construction that does not comply with the approved documents must be resubmitted for approval as an amended set of construction documents.

Building Code § 107.4

A written construction permit is obtained from the enforcing agency before erecting, constructing, altering, or moving a building, except for work the code exempts from permits, minor changes the enforcing agency determines do not affect structural features, egress, sanitation, safety, or accessibility, and retroactive permits under the Health and Safety Code. Exemption from a permit does not exempt the work from complying with the code.

Residential Code § 1.8.4.1

For all buildings other than healthcare facilities, which instead follow Chapter 7, the design-side Energy Code documentation, unless the Energy Commission's Executive Director has approved an alternative, is the Certificate of Compliance, signed by the person responsible for the building design who is eligible under Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code to accept that responsibility and, where a different person prepared it, by that documentation author under a declaration that it is accurate and complete, submitted with the permit application for any new construction, addition, alteration, or repair the Energy Code regulates, and approved by the enforcement agency by stamp or signature, under the agency's Section 10-103(d) duties, before the building permit issues. A copy is included in the documentation the builder gives the owner at occupancy. For alterations to existing residential buildings that need field verification, where the agency does not require plans with the application, the certificate need not be approved before the permit issues but must be approved before final inspection of the dwelling unit, and is made available to the agency for every applicable inspection or for viewing on an approved data registry. Where the code requires document registration, the registered certificate is the one incorporated into the plans; the Certificates of Installation and Acceptance complete the set. For residential alterations that need no field verification, such as water heater and window replacements, and for residential additions of less than 300 square feet that need no field verification, the enforcement agency may waive the certificate documentation or accept a simplified form; the work still must comply. Where the enforcement agency requires plans and specifications with the application, they must show the energy features the certificate lists; if a change before final installation would take the building out of compliance, the work is brought back into compliance and amended plans and Certificates of Compliance are resubmitted for approval, and the enforcement agency may require the supporting compliance documentation.

Administrative Code (Title 24 Part 1) § 10-103

For all buildings other than healthcare facilities, which follow Chapter 7, the Certificate of Installation is signed and submitted by the person in charge of the construction or installation who is eligible under Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code to accept responsibility for that work — typically the licensed contractor; the code calls this person the responsible person — to certify that the installed features, materials, components, and manufactured devices conform to the Energy Code; where more than one person is responsible, each signs for their portion or the person with chief responsibility signs for the whole; where a different person prepared the documentation, that documentation author also signs a declaration that the information is accurate and complete. For residential alterations that need no field verification and residential additions of less than 300 square feet that need no field verification, the enforcement agency may waive or simplify this documentation too. A copy is posted or made available with the building permit, or on an approved data registry, and is made available to the enforcement agency for every applicable inspection; where a portion of the work will be impossible to inspect because of later construction, the agency may require that portion's certificate to be posted as soon as that portion is complete, and where registration is required the copies come from the data registry. Except where law such as the Business and Professions Code forbids it, the responsible person may delegate that signature to an Authorized Representative under a written agreement between the two that says the representative may sign Certificates of Installation on the responsible person's behalf, that legal responsibility stays with the responsible person, that is signed by both, and that is retained by the compliance provider to which the building's compliance documents are submitted and kept in its data registry where the Energy Commission and enforcement agencies can verify it.

Administrative Code (Title 24 Part 1) § 10-103

For nonresidential buildings, high-rise residential buildings, and hotels and motels other than healthcare facilities, when the building is designated for an occupancy the Energy Code regulates, Certificates of Acceptance are also required unless the Executive Director has approved an alternative, signed (electronically, where registration is required) by the responsible person in charge of the acceptance testing who is eligible under Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code to accept responsibility for the system design, construction, or installation in the applicable classification for the certificate's scope of work, or by that person's authorized representative, by the field technician who ran the tests, and by the documentation author.

Administrative Code (Title 24 Part 1) § 10-103

When an existing building or facility is altered or added to, an accessible path of travel to the altered area must be provided; residential dwelling units follow their own section, 11B-233.3.4.2, instead. The primary accessible path includes a primary entrance, toilet and bathing facilities serving the area, drinking fountains serving the area, public telephones serving the area, and signs. Elements built or altered to comply with the immediately preceding code edition, solely because of an alteration to an area they serve, need not be retrofitted to reflect this code's incremental changes, one edition back only, not cumulative; and work done to meet accessibility requirements that consists only of the listed items — altering one entrance, one toilet facility, elevators, steps, or handrails — is confined to its own scope. Projects consisting only of heating, ventilating, and air conditioning, reroofing, electrical work that does not place switches or receptacles, cosmetic work that does not affect items the code regulates, such as painting, or non-architectural equipment do not trigger the path-of-travel duty unless they affect the building's usability. Other exceptions confine alterations made solely for ADA barrier removal, parking-lot resurfacing or restriping, and sign replacement to their own scope of work. Alterations solely to install electric vehicle charging stations are treated differently: where vehicle fueling, recharging, parking, or storage is a primary function of the facility, they comply to the maximum extent feasible without exceeding 20 percent of the EVCS installation cost, and where it is not, they need not comply at all.

Building Code § 11b-202.4

For projects the path-of-travel duty reaches, where the adjusted construction cost, as the code defines it, is at or below the current valuation threshold, as the code defines it, the cost of path-of-travel compliance is capped at 20 percent of that cost, with compliance to the greatest extent possible within it. Above the threshold, apart from the elevator exception, full compliance is required unless the enforcing agency finds an unreasonable hardship, in which case compliance is by equivalent facilitation or to the greatest extent possible, never less than 20 percent, and the hardship finding is recorded in the agency's files and subject to the ratification procedure in Section 1.9.1.5. Where an area was altered without providing the accessible path and another alteration of that area, or of a different area on the same path of travel, follows within three years, the cost of all alterations to the areas on that path of travel during the preceding three-year period counts toward the disproportionality test, so splitting work into successive projects does not reset the 20 percent. For this rule the adjusted construction cost does not include the cost of the path-of-travel work itself, so the 20 percent is figured on the alteration, structural repair, or addition alone. Where the cap binds, the code says priority should be given to the elements that give the greatest access, in this order: an accessible entrance; an accessible route to the altered area; at least one accessible restroom for each sex or one accessible unisex restroom; accessible telephones; accessible drinking fountains; and, when possible, additional elements such as parking, signs, storage, and alarms.

Building Code § 11b-202.4

In alteration projects under the path-of-travel rule, in in the formerly exempt privately funded multistory building types the section lists (office buildings and passenger vehicle service stations of three stories or more with 3,000 or more square feet per floor; physicians' and surgeons' offices; shopping centers; and other buildings of three stories or more with 3,000 or more square feet per floor where a reasonable portion of the services the public seeks and uses is available on the accessible level) that were previously approved and built without elevators, that cap also applies to areas above and below the ground floor, even where the project exceeds the valuation threshold. That elevator exception relieves only elevator service: floors above and below the accessible ground floor must still meet the section's other requirements, and where toilet or bathing facilities are on a level no elevator serves, they must also be provided on the accessible ground floor.

Building Code § 11b-202.4

Deferring any submittal requires the building official's prior approval, and the registered design professional in responsible charge lists the deferred submittals on the construction documents. Deferred submittal documents go to that design professional, who reviews them and forwards them to the building official with a notation that they were reviewed and found in general conformance with the building design. The deferred items may not be installed until the building official has approved their documents.

Building Code § 107.3.4.1

The building official may issue a permit for foundations or another part of a building before the construction documents for the whole building are submitted, where adequate information has been filed. The holder of that permit proceeds at their own risk, with no assurance that a permit for the entire structure will be granted.

Building Code § 107.3.3

Construction documents submitted with a permit application are accompanied by a site plan showing the size and location of new construction and existing structures, and distances from lot lines. For demolition it shows what is to be demolished and what remains. The building official may waive or modify the site plan for alterations or repairs.

Residential Code § r106.2

When a permit issues, the construction documents are approved in writing or by a stamp reading REVIEWED FOR CODE COMPLIANCE. One reviewed set stays with the building official; the other is returned to the applicant, kept at the site of work, and open to inspection by the building official or a duly authorized representative.

Residential Code § r106.3.1

The building permit, or a copy of it, is kept on the site of the work until the project is complete.

Residential Code § r105.7

A building section is drawn as if the building were sliced straight down at a line marked on the plans; it shows what is inside the assembly from footing to roof — foundation, floor, wall, and roof framing in true vertical relationship — which the plan and elevation views cannot show.

Standard trade practice

On construction drawings a figured, or written, dimension governs over a dimension scaled off the drawing: drawings are reduced, enlarged, and reprinted, so a scale reading is an approximation, and where the two disagree the written dimension controls and a real conflict goes back to the design professional.

Standard trade practice

A design professional's review of a shop drawing or submittal checks general conformance with the design intent shown in the contract documents; it does not verify field dimensions, quantities, or fit with adjacent work, and the contractor remains responsible for those — a stamped 'reviewed' submittal does not transfer that responsibility.

Standard trade practice

General conditions are the job-specific support costs of running the site as a whole rather than building any one part of the work — jobsite supervision, temporary power and water, portable toilets, trash removal, temporary fencing — charged to the project that creates them, and distinct from company overhead, which is not tied to one job.

Standard trade practice

For on-site construction, the building official makes the required inspections when the permit holder or their agent gives notice that work is ready. The foundation inspection, which includes excavations for thickened slabs under bearing walls and wood foundations, comes after poles or piers are set or trenches or basement areas are excavated, any required forms are erected, and any required reinforcing steel is in place and supported, before concrete is placed, with the foundation materials on the job site except ready-mixed concrete under ASTM C94, which need not be there at inspection. The concrete slab and under-floor inspection comes after in-slab or under-floor reinforcing steel, building service equipment, conduits, piping, and other trade products are installed, before any concrete is placed or floor sheathing, including the subfloor, is installed. The frame and masonry inspection comes after the roof, masonry, framing, firestopping, draftstopping, and bracing are in place and the rough electrical, plumbing, heating wires, pipes, and ducts are approved and chimneys and vents to be concealed are completed. Reinforcing steel and structural framework may not be covered or concealed without the enforcing agency's approval, and work may not proceed past the point of each inspection without the official's approval. The final inspection is made after the permitted work is complete and before occupancy, with flood-hazard elevation documentation submitted first where the site is in a flood hazard area.

Residential Code § r109

Work requiring a permit is subject to inspection and must remain visible and accessible for inspection until approved. It is the duty of the owner or the owner's agent to keep the work accessible, and neither the building official nor the jurisdiction is liable for the expense of removing or replacing material to allow inspection. An inspection approval does not approve a violation.

Building Code § 110.1

Lath and gypsum panel inspections are made after the lath or gypsum panels, interior and exterior, are in place, but before any plaster is applied or the panel joints and fasteners are taped and finished. Gypsum panels that are not part of a fire-resistance-rated assembly or a shear assembly are excepted. That exception is the Building Code's; the Residential Code's own lath and gypsum board inspection, R109.1.4.2, states the same window with no exception, so on a house every gypsum board is inspected before taping unless the jurisdiction says otherwise.

Building Code § 110.3.6

Where a permit application is made under Section 105 (or 1.8.4) for construction of the types of work Section 1705 lists for special inspection, the owner or the owner's authorized agent, other than the contractor, employs one or more approved agencies to perform them and identifies those agencies to the building official. Special inspections are in addition to the building official's own inspections. Exception: where the contractor is also the owner, the contractor may employ the approved agencies. Special inspections and tests are also not required for construction of a minor nature or as warranted by conditions in the jurisdiction, as approved by the building official; for Group U occupancies accessory to a residential occupancy unless the building official requires them; or for portions of structures designed and built under the cold-formed steel light-frame provisions or the conventional light-frame construction provisions; OSHPD hospital projects (the [OSHPD 1R, 2 & 5] tags) do not get the light-frame or contractor-as-owner exceptions, nor the approved-fabricator route below, and factory-built housing follows the Health and Safety Code's own regime instead of this section. Structural, load-bearing, or lateral load-resisting members or assemblies fabricated off site at a fabricator's shop are special-inspected during fabrication, unless the fabricator is approved to fabricate without special inspection, in which case approval rests on review of the fabricator's written procedures and quality-control manuals with periodic audits, and at completion of fabrication the approved fabricator submits to the owner or agent, for submittal to the building official under Section 1704.5, a certificate of compliance stating that the work was performed in accordance with the approved construction documents.

Building Code § 1704.2

Approved agencies keep records and submit reports of special inspections and tests to the building official and the registered design professional in responsible charge. Discrepancies are brought to the immediate attention of the contractor for correction; if not corrected, they go to the building official and the design professional before that phase of work is complete. A final report documenting the inspections and the correction of discrepancies is submitted at a time agreed before work starts.

Building Code § 1704.2.4

In-situ load tests are conducted under the code's procedures and supervised by a registered design professional. The test simulates the applicable loading conditions of the structural chapter as needed to address the structural stability of the building or portion tested.

Building Code § 1708.2

Concrete is ordered by the cubic yard, 27 cubic feet. Convert thickness to feet, multiply length × width × thickness, divide by 27. Example: a 30-by-40-foot slab 4 inches thick is 30 × 40 × (4 ÷ 12) = 400 cubic feet, 14.8 cubic yards before waste.

Standard trade practice

Board feet equal nominal thickness × nominal width × length in feet ÷ 12, times the piece count. Example: 40 pieces of 2×6, 10 feet long: 2 × 6 × 10 ÷ 12 = 10 board feet each, 400 total.

Standard trade practice

A square is 100 square feet of roof surface. Surface area is the plan area times the slope factor; divide by 100 for squares and add waste last. Example: 2,400 square feet of plan area at 6 in 12 is 2,683 square feet of surface, 26.8 squares, 29.5 with 10 percent waste, ordered as 30.

Standard trade practice

Order quantity equals the net takeoff times (1 + waste percent), rounded up to the purchase unit. Example: 1,850 square feet of flooring at 8 percent waste is 1,998, order 2,000.

Standard trade practice

Labor hours equal the quantity divided by the production rate in units per hour; labor cost equals labor hours times the burdened hourly rate. Example: 2,400 square feet of drywall at 60 square feet per hour is 40 hours; at $48 burdened, $1,920.

Standard trade practice

The burdened rate equals the base wage times (1 + burden percent), where the burden is payroll taxes, workers' compensation, and other insurance and benefits. Example: a $32 wage with a 35 percent burden costs $43.20 an hour.

Standard trade practice

Working days equal total labor hours divided by (crew size × hours per day), rounded up. Example: 320 labor hours with a 4-person crew at 8 hours a day is 320 ÷ 32 = 10 working days.

Standard trade practice

Activities that run in parallel take as long as the longest of them, not the sum; sequential activities add. Example: plumbing, electrical, and HVAC rough-ins of 5, 4, and 3 days run in parallel: 5 days.

Standard trade practice

Total float is how long an activity can slip without delaying completion: its late start minus its early start. An activity with zero float is on the critical path. Example: early start day 10, late start day 14, four days of float.

Standard trade practice

For a rental spanning more than a week, price the job three ways and take the lowest: all days at the daily rate; whole weeks at the weekly rate plus leftover days at the daily rate; and the next whole week. A weekly rate is not automatically the bargain, so all-daily stays in the comparison. Example: 9 days at $150 a day or $600 a week is $1,350 all-daily, $900 for one week plus two days, or $1,200 for two weeks; rent one week plus two days, $900.

Standard trade practice

Gallons equal net area times coats divided by coverage per gallon, rounded up, where net area is gross wall area minus openings. Example: 2,600 gross, 300 in openings, two coats at 350 square feet per gallon: 2,300 × 2 ÷ 350 = 13.1, order 14.

Standard trade practice

Sheets equal wall area plus ceiling area, divided by the sheet area, times (1 + waste percent), rounded up. Example: a 12-by-14 room 8 feet high is 416 + 168 = 584 square feet; ÷ 32 = 18.25; with 10 percent waste, order 21.

Standard trade practice

A nominal 8-by-16 block covers 0.889 square foot, so 1.125 blocks per square foot of wall. Count equals net wall area times 1.125, plus waste. Example: a 40-foot wall 8 feet high with a 3-by-7 opening is 299 square feet, 336 blocks before waste.

Standard trade practice

Baseboard linear feet equal the room perimeter minus door openings, times (1 + waste percent). Example: a 14-by-16 room with two 3-foot doors and 10 percent waste is (60 − 6) × 1.10 = 59.4, order 60 feet.

Standard trade practice

At 1/4 inch = 1 foot, each quarter inch on the plan is a foot, so actual feet equal measured inches times 4. Example: a wall measuring 6-1/2 inches on the plan is 26 feet. A written dimension governs over a scaled one.

Standard trade practice

A dimension string must add up to the overall dimension. The shortfall equals the overall dimension minus the sum of the partials; a non-zero result is a plan error to raise before building. Example: partials of 12'-6", 8'-0", and 14'-3" against an overall 35'-0" leave a 3-inch shortfall.

Standard trade practice

Where a section shows a thicker slab than the plan, the extra concrete, if the thicker section governs, equals the slab area times the thickness difference in feet, divided by 27. Example: a 1,200-square-foot slab at 4 inches on plan and 5 inches in section adds 3.7 cubic yards if the RFI confirms the 5-inch section across the whole slab. Until the RFI is answered, that figure is a potential cost impact, not a confirmed quantity.

Standard trade practice

Bars at a spacing each way: bars in one direction equal the slab dimension across them divided by the spacing, plus one, times the bar length; do both directions and add. Example: a 20-by-30 slab at 16 inches on center each way needs 24 bars of 20 feet and 16 bars of 30 feet, 960 feet before laps.

Standard trade practice

A rectangular form is square when its diagonals are equal, and each diagonal equals √(length² + width²). Example: a 24-by-32-foot form should measure 40 feet corner to corner.

Standard trade practice

Excavated soil swells: loose volume equals bank volume times (1 + swell percent), and truckloads equal loose yards divided by truck capacity, rounded up. Example: 4,800 cubic feet of bank soil is 177.8 yards; at 25 percent swell, 222 loose yards; 23 loads in 10-yard trucks.

Standard trade practice