Owner approval of Nonconforming Work
I often stumble upon this notion (mostly in practice questions) that the owner can approve nonconforming work, and I am often hesitant to accept this, because I tend to think that architect is the one who ultimately has this authority (since he is the one responsible for the design, after all). Especially, if life-safety is potentially endangered because of the non-conformance... I think it would be plain wrong to let the owner accept this kind of non-conformance (which he might, since he might not understand the life-safety issue).
Anyway, for the exam, we should think that owner can approve non-conforming work (and also reject conforming work)? I don't get the reasoning behind this - is it just that the owner is the property owner and therefore he / she can do whatever he/ she wants to.
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Pg 721 of AHPP - "The owner has the right to accept nonconforming work instead of requiring its removal
and replacement, and the contract sum should be reduced by change order as appropriate and equitable. Should the nonconforming condition conflict with code requirements or endanger life safety, the architect must object to the acceptance and insist on completion or correction. Owner-accepted nonconforming work should be noted as an exclusion to the architect’s certificates of substantial completion."I think your reasoning is correct - the owner cannot accept nonconforming work that conflicts with life safety. Hypothetically, if they tried to go around the architect and accept work that the architect had objected to and would endanger others, I'm pretty sure that would be negligence on the owner's end and there would be legal ramifications for the owner.
For the exam - if it deals with life safety/code, then the owner CANNOT accept nonconforming work. If you see any question on the exam where an owner accepts nonconforming work I imagine it'll be something minor - for example a piece of base cabinet was drawn as being 18" wide and a 15" wide base cabinet was installed. It might take weeks for the cabinet to be replaced. The 3" difference doesn't bother the owner and they just want the room to be finished, so they accept it.
Hope this helps!
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It goes without saying that an Architect should NEVER ACCEPT work that endangers the life safety of the occupants.
Samantha's explanation of how this topic would be applied on the exam is a good one in terms of it being clear what the non conforming work violates on the exam.
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If it is a matter of life and safety, no, the owner cannot violate the codes and accept the non-conforming work.
I think the section here is more in terms of non-conforming to the contract documents, not code-related issues. For example, if the plans call out quartz countertop, but the contractor mistakenly installed granite countertop for a kitchen. Both countertops work, if the owner accept the non-conforming work of granite counter top, the contractor need to credit back the price difference to the owner.
Gang Chen, Author, Architect, LEED AP BD+C (GreenExamEducation.com)
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