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Rant: I called fire sprinkler work overkill for a 2 story strip mall, then an AHJ in Reno set me straight
A buddy of mine who runs a small GC shop in Reno asked me to look at a tenant improvement job, a 2 story strip mall, and I told him sprinklers were overkill since the place was only 8,000 sq ft and under the old rules he might skate by. He pushed back and said the local AHJ had been cracking down hard since a fire at a similar strip center, so I pulled the code and realized I was reading the 2016 edition while his town adopted the 2021, which changed the threshold completely. How do you guys keep track of which code year each jurisdiction is actually on, or do you just call the fire marshal before you even bid the job?
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the_joseph14d ago
Admitted I used to think calling the fire marshal before bidding was a waste of time, until I got burned on a job in a town that was two code cycles behind what I assumed. Now I pull the adopted code year for every jurisdiction off the state fire marshal site and make a quick call if anything looks off, since a five minute call beats eating a re-bid. That Reno story is exactly why you check first and bid second.
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parker_thomas14d ago
Two cycles behind is nothing, I've seen towns still on the 2009 IBC while the rest of the state was on 2018. That state fire marshal site trick works but some smaller jurisdictions don't update it, so if you can't find the code year listed, just call.
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