What Are Interim Documents?

Plans, calculations, specifications, reports, etc. that do not have an engineer's stamp / wet-signature are know as interim documents. These include all prepared documents other than those that are permitted or that are ready to be released for construction.. Numerous state's laws require that such interim documents be labeled as to their intended purpose. Such labeling may include, but is not limited to, any of the following: “preliminary”, “not for construction”, “for plan check only” and / or “for review only”.

When an engineer places their stamp / wet-signature on a document, they are saying that no further review is required. The document (as-is) is ready for construction.

It is fairly intuitive, then, that a "preliminary" set of documents, such as a progress set, should not contain an engineer's stamp / wet-signature.

What about documents that are being submitted for plan check? Shouldn't they have an engineer's stamp / wet-signature? Although the engineer and / or designer have performed all of the services necessary to have (what they believe to be) a complete set of documents, sometimes the jurisdiction and / or their plan checker sees things differently. Often they will require (at least some) clarification and / or changes to items submitted for plan check. The "plan check set" of documents, then, is not ready for construction because they have not yet been reviewed by the jurisdiction (plan checker) for conformance with the building code, requirements of the local jurisdiction, etc.

This means that the plans will only be ready for construction when the plan check process is complete. At that point in time, final documents that are stamped / wet-signed should be provided for permit.