This is the Partnership Forum intended the non-professional or general public seeking help with problems they have in buying, building, remodeling or identifying problems with a building or property. The purpose is to use the resources of the professional community to help the author of the post answer the questions or to seek the resource or infomation that will provide them with intelligent choices. THIS IS NOT INTENDED TO SELL PRODUCT OR SOLICITE SERVICES.

The best source of information is your local building official. The easiest way to locate the local municple service is to check in the "Government" section at the begining of most phone directories. Often, the governing building department is not a local city but rather a county office close to where you live. If you have received any notices of a building deficiency or non-compliance to a building code issue that is served by your code enforcement officer, the first step should be to contact the Code Enforcement office who issued the notice (also called an Order to Comply) and to discuss the issue.

When posting a question to this Forum, please provide as much information as you can. However, we recommend that you NOT provide any personal information such as site address, phone numbers or actual names. The Partnership Forum is intended to help you understand the problem and offer you direction in finding solutions and local resources that you may hire. We do not allow solicitation of services or products. There is a fine line between solicting products and discussing products that may be applicable to solving a problem. The administrator of this site will judge the appropriateness of response and allow or deny the response.

If you receive anything you feel is inappropriate as a result of your listing, please notify us by using the Feedback form under the website's HOME tab at the top of the horizontal menu bar. We will review all e-mail complaints and take appropriate action as decided. You may use your proper name and e-mail address in the Feedback section noted as this is sent privately to the administrator and is not visible to the Forum community. 

The professional Partnership is intended to be used by Engineers, Architects, Designers, Builders and Framers (thos assigned to interpret structural drawings and details who provide hands-on carpentry) and building officials (including inspectors, counter techs, plan checkers et. al.) who seek peer advise or interpretation of the building code as well as the means and methods for accomplishing the work. The title of Engineer is generic and may include any professional with an engineering education in a field associated with the design and construction of building structures, bridges, roads and infrastructures as well as Geologist and Geotechnical Professionals.

The idea behind the Partnership program started approximately ten years ago with an idea originating with the National Association of Home Builders - Research Council (NAHB-RC) called REACH. The acronym REACH stood for the "Residential Engineers and Architects Council on Housing". The purpose was noteworthy as it intended to unite those listed above in a partnership of open communication and peer review with the intent to improve the design, construction and performance of building structures without necessarily seeking more restrictive codes. The REACH program was limited to a service that required paid membership and it was this reason that I fear it was doomed to failure.

The Structuralist.Net web services feels that the REACH program should be resurrected in such a manner as to bring the professional community together with a common goal to create affordable buildings that perform well in the event of an act of nature and through the use of education and peer discussion, reduce the number of design/construction defects that result in the exceptionally high cost of damage repair. The Partnership is intended to mitigate damage by reducing the politic's that historically created a chasm between professions that has yet to be bridged. Furthermore, the partnership is open to anyone in the building industry whether the structure can be designed precriptively (such as the conventional methods of the International Residential Code) or is required to be engineered.

The risks vary from location to location and depend greatly upon local wind and seismic conditions (i.e., ASCE 7-05 Maps). The goal is to idenify the responsibility of the Partnership and to utilize the services within the community that are available to share information and interpretation so as to allow the end-user the ability to make intelligent decisions and to use the same professional community to guide the building offical and/or inspector as needed.

Please use this forum respectfully. Solicitation of product and services are not allowed. There is often a fine line in the discussion of products (allowed) and the solicitation to sell such products. The decision shall be left to the administrator of the Structuralist.Net web services. If you have a complaint or problem with the decision to allow or deny a post (or reply), please contact us using the Web based Feedback service under the Home Tab at the top of the website horizontal menu bar. You may also write us at admin@structuralist.net (both provide the same service and protect the privacy of the sender).