South Dakota Building Code & Construction Permit Law

South Dakota Code · 4 sections

The following is the full text of South Dakota’s building code & construction permit law statutes as published in the South Dakota Code. For the official version, see the South Dakota Legislature.

SDCL § 36-18A-1

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36-18A-1. Definition of terms.

Terms used in this chapter mean:

(1) "Alteration," for the purpose of determining exemptions, any remodeling, renovation, or reconstruction to a building which changes the use, occupancy classification, or occupant load, or the exiting, structural, mechanical, or electrical systems of a building as defined by the building code;

(2) "Architect," any person licensed in good standing and legally authorized to practice architecture in this state;

(3) "Architectural intern," any person who has successfully completed an accredited education program in architecture acceptable to the board and is enrolled in the intern development program administered by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards;

(4) "Board," the Board of Technical Professions;

(5) "Building," any structure used or intended to support or shelter any occupancy;

(6) "Building or floor area," the sum of the areas of all of the floors of a building, including basements, mezzanine, and intermediate tiers, and penthouses of headroom height, measured from the exterior faces of exterior walls or from the center line of the wall separating buildings. The building area does not include such features as pipe trenches, exterior terraces or steps, chimneys, vent shafts, courts, and roof overhangs. The floor area of enlargements shall be added to the existing building area. A fire or area separation wall is not an exterior wall for the purposes of this definition;

(7) "Building official," the officer or other designated authority charged with the administration and enforcement of the adopted code;

(8) "Business entity," any corporation, partnership, limited liability corporation, limited liability partnership, or sole proprietorship that practices or offers to practice engineering, architecture, land surveying, landscape architecture, petroleum release assessment, or petroleum release remediation services to the public through its licensed personnel who are either employees, officers, directors, partners, members, managers, or owners and that have been issued a certificate of authorization by the board;

(9) "Construction administration," the interpretation of drawings and specifications, the establishment of standards of acceptable workmanship, and the site observation of construction, by a licensed professional, for the purpose of determining whether the work is in general accordance with the construction contract documents. Shop drawing review, coordination of a construction project among the owner, architect, engineer, contractor, and subcontractors, and inspection of construction by contractors, subcontractors, owner's agents, building officials, or other unlicensed professionals does not constitute construction administration;

(10) "Corrective action," an action taken to minimize, contain, eliminate, remediate, mitigate, or clean up a petroleum release, excluding removal of a petroleum tank

SDCL § 36-18A-22

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36-18A-22. Board to promulgate rules--Scope of rules--Existing rules remain in effect.

The board shall, pursuant to chapter 1-26, promulgate rules that may be reasonably necessary for the performance of its duties, the regulation of proceedings before it, and the licensure of the professions it regulates. The existing rules promulgated under the previous chapter 36-18 remain in effect until replaced. The board shall promulgate rules, pursuant to chapter 1-26, for the licensure of professional engineers, architects, land surveyors, landscape architects, and petroleum release assessors and remediators in the following areas:

(1) Forms such as applications, renewals, licenses or certificates, and receipts for applicants, licensed professionals, and business entities;

(2) Fees for applications, examinations, renewals, late penalties, lists and labels of licensees, returned checks, reinstatement, inactive status, ability to allow a vendor to collect fees for examinations, waiver of fees;

(3) Criteria for types of education degrees, approval of accredited programs, intern programs, type of experience, length of experience, national and state specific examinations, use of computer examinations, criteria from other countries, procedure to evaluate foreign degrees, eligibility of applicants, dual licenses;

(4) Continuing professional education and development content, hours, carryovers, and requirements;

(5) How, when, and where to seal plans and documents; type of seal; required services to be provided; and criteria to define complete plans, minimum standards of practice, and guidelines;

(6) Description of and criteria for construction administration, including a designation of who is to perform construction administration and criteria for a prime professional or a coordinating professional;

(7) Requirements for compliance with local building code; and

(8) The adoption of a code of professional conduct.

Source: SL 1999, ch 195, § 22; SL 2007, ch 219, § 10; SL 2021, ch 168, § 25.

SDCL 36-18A-70

No public officer or employee, as defined in subdivisions 22-1-2(37) and (39), charged with the authority or responsibility of approving or accepting plans, specifications, plats, or any other technical submissions, may accept or approve such plans, specifications, plats, or technical submissions which have been prepared in violation of this chapter.

The building official shall require the owner to engage and designate an architect or professional engineer who shall act as the architect or professional engineer of record on projects that are not exempt. If the circumstances require, the owner may designate a substitute architect or professional engineer of record who shall perform all of the duties required of the original architect or professional engineer of record. The building official shall be notified in writing by the owner if the architect or professional engineer of record is changed or is unable to continue to perform the duties. The architect or professional engineer of record is responsible for reviewing and coordinating all submittal documents prepared by others, including deferred submittal items, for compatibility with the design of the building. A building permit issued with respect to technical submissions which do not conform with the requirements of this chapter are invalid.

SDCL 36-18A-9

This chapter does not apply to:

(1) Any person engaged in military engineering while rendering service exclusively for any of the armed forces of the United States or this state;

(2) Any person engaged in the practice of engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, or land surveying in the employ of the United States government but only while exclusively engaged as a United States government employee on such government project or projects which lie within federally-owned land;

(3) Any person engaged in the practice of engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, or land surveying in the employ of the state and any of its political subdivisions but only while rendering service exclusively to such employer. Any building project resulting from the practice of engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, or land surveying under this subdivision is subject to the size limitation imposed under the exemptions in subdivision (8) of this section;

(4) Any employee who prepares technical submissions or administers construction contracts for a person or organization lawfully engaged in the practice of engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, or land surveying, if the employee is under the direct supervision of a registered professional engineer, architect, landscape architect, or land surveyor;

(5) Any full-time employee of a corporation, partnership, firm, business entity, or public utility while exclusively doing work for the corporation, partnership, firm, business entity, or public utility, if the work performed is in connection with the property, products, and services utilized by the employer and not for any corporation, partnership, firm, or business entity practicing or offering to practice architectural, engineering, landscape architecture, or land surveying services to the public. The provisions of this subdivision do not apply to any building or structure if the primary use is occupancy by the public;

(6) Any person engaged in the preparation of plans and specifications for the erection, enlargement, or alteration of any of the following buildings:

(a) Any dwelling for a single family, and any outbuilding in connection therewith, such as a barn or private garage;

(b) Any two, three, or four family dwelling;

(c) Any five to sixteen family dwelling, inclusive, located in a governmental subdivision of this state which provides a detailed building code review of building projects by a building inspection department which is a governmental member of the International Code Council (ICC) or an ICC certified plans examiner;

(d) Any farm or ranch building or accessory thereto except any building regularly used for public purposes; or

(e) Any temporary building or shed used exclusively for construction purposes, not exceeding two stories in height, and not used for living quarters;

(7) Any person who prepares detailed or shop plans required to be furnished by a contractor to a registered professional engineer or architect, and any construction superintendent supervising the execution of work designed by an architect or professional engineer registered in accordance with this chapter;

(8) Any person engaged in the preparation of plans and specifications for the new construction, the enlargement or the alteration of any of the following buildings:

(a) Any building occupied as a hospital, hotel, motel, restaurant, library, medical office, nursing facility, assisted living facility, jail, retirement home, or mortuary, if the gross square footage of the new construction, the enlargement, or the alteration is four thousand square feet or less;

(b) Any building occupied as an auditorium, church, school, or theater if the gross square footage of the new construction, the enlargement, or the alteration is five thousand square feet or less;

(c) Any building occupied as a bowling alley, office, shopping center, bank, fire station, service station, or store if the gross square footage of the new construction, the enlargement, or the alteration is seven thousand square feet or less;

(d) Any building occupied as an industrial plant or public garage if the gross square footage of the new construction, the enlargement, or the alteration is eleven thousand square feet or less;

(e) Any building occupied as a warehouse if the gross square footage of the new construction, the enlargement, or the alteration is twenty thousand square feet or less;

(f) Any building with an occupancy other than those listed in subsections (a) to (e), inclusive, of this subdivision if the gross square footage of the new construction, the enlargement, or the alteration is four thousand square feet of less; or

(g) Any preengineered or predesigned building, or any preengineered or predesigned building with a predesigned system, designed for the intended use of that building, including building structure, electrical, plumbing, and mechanical systems, if the buildings and systems are supplied directly, or indirectly, by a company engaged in the business of designing and supply such buildings and systems and if the company has in its employ one or more engineers or architects licensed in South Dakota, who prepare all designs for such buildings and systems.

No person exempted may use the title of professional engineer, architect, landscape architect, or land surveyor, or any other word, words, letters, or signs in connection with the person's name that may falsely convey the impression that the person is a licensed professional engineer, architect, landscape architect, or land surveyor.

The law belongs to the people. Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 590 U.S. (2020)