The Hazard Zone Check at Intake SOP

Purpose

A replacement estimate written without knowing the address's flood, wildfire, wind and seismic status is written for a different house. The miss shows up in one of three ways: the permit comes back demanding an elevated platform or anchoring the price never carried, the inspector fails the install, or nothing catches it and the equipment fails in the event the code was written for. This procedure makes the office answer four location questions before an estimator prices a large job, and turns each answer into a scope line or a stated "does not apply", so the price the customer accepts is the price of the job the jurisdiction will actually let you build.

Scope

Covers estimates for whole-system HVAC replacement, water heater and boiler replacement, generator installs, outdoor and rooftop equipment relocation, pool equipment pads, roof replacements, and any job that adds or moves an opening in the exterior wall or roof.

Does not cover:

• How to look up a flood map, a fire zone or a design value. The Place group's cards own the lookup method; this SOP owns when it is done and what the answer does to the estimate.
• Whether a job crosses the substantial improvement line. That determination belongs to the community's floodplain administrator, and the idea is owned by The Substantial Improvement Fifty Percent Rule. This SOP only screens for it and routes.
• Repairs and service calls, which do not trigger it, unless the repair moves equipment or adds an opening.

Roles and responsibilities

Procedure

1. Decide whether the job triggers the check. Match the request against the scope list above. Acceptance: the lead carries a hazard-check flag set to yes or no, with the job type that set it. Wrong looks like a "just a water heater swap" waved through when the heater sits in a garage in a coastal town. Stop rule: when in doubt, set it to yes; the check costs about 15 minutes and skipping it costs a re-quote. Hazard: none at this step, it is a decision made at a desk.

2. Pin the right parcel. Enter the address in the county parcel viewer and confirm the parcel number, the owner name the customer gave, and the building footprint on the aerial match the house you are quoting. Acceptance: parcel number recorded and the footprint visually matches the customer's description (detached garage, pool, corner lot). Wrong looks like a pin on the neighbor's lot, a new subdivision that geocodes to the old farm parcel, or a unit number the map ignores. Stop rule: if the parcel cannot be confirmed, call the customer and ask for a cross street or the parcel number off the tax bill before any lookup, because a flood zone boundary can run between two adjacent lots. Hazard: none, desk work.

3. Flood. Look up the effective flood map panel for the parcel and record the zone, the panel number and its effective date. In a Special Flood Hazard Area (zones beginning A or V), record the base flood elevation (BFE: the elevation the one-percent-annual-chance flood is expected to reach) and ask the customer whether they hold an elevation certificate. Acceptance: zone, panel, date, and BFE or "none shown" written on the lead. Wrong looks like a customer saying "we're not in a flood zone" because they carry no flood policy, or a parcel straddling a boundary. Stop rule: any A or V zone on a job that sets equipment at or near grade goes to the estimator flagged elevated equipment likely. Hazard: none, desk work.

4. Wildfire. Check the state map where one exists (California maps fire hazard severity zones statewide) and the county or city overlay where it does not; many states leave it to counties and some have no map at all. Record the zone and which code it brings, for example California Residential Code R337 or the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code as adopted locally. Acceptance: zone or "not mapped" recorded, with the code named. Wrong looks like recording the state map as clear in a county that adopted a stricter overlay. Stop rule: a mapped zone on any job that adds or replaces a vent, a cap, a roof or an exterior opening flags ember-resistant components for the estimator. Hazard: none, desk work.

5. Wind and seismic. Pull the building department's published design criteria for the jurisdiction: the ultimate design wind speed and whether the parcel sits in a hurricane-prone or wind-borne debris region, and the seismic design category. Acceptance: wind speed with its basis (the ASCE 7 edition the jurisdiction adopted) and seismic category recorded. Wrong looks like a wind number lifted from a national map for a jurisdiction that publishes its own. Stop rule: if the department publishes no table, call the permit counter and record who answered. Hazard: none, desk work.

6. Screen for substantial improvement. Only in an A or V zone, ask two questions in these words: has water or wind damaged the house in the last few years, and is any other contractor working on the house now or soon. Acceptance: both answers recorded. Wrong looks like a yes to either, alongside a replacement that is one part of a larger repair. Stop rule: a yes routes to the owner, who calls the floodplain administrator before the estimate is finalized, because combined repair work at or above half the structure's market value triggers full compliance (44 CFR 59.1 defines it, communities may set a lower threshold or count cumulatively). Hazard: none, a phone question.

7. Confirm on site. The estimator photographs the equipment location and its existing pad or stand, any elevation certificate, the existing vents and caps, and the gas connector and straps on any water heater. Acceptance: photos of each item the lookups flagged, plus a tape measurement of equipment height above the floor or adjacent grade. Wrong looks like an elevation certificate whose machinery elevation disagrees with what you measure. Stop rule: if the measured equipment sits below the required elevation from step 3, the estimate carries an elevation scope line or does not go out. Hazard: crawlspace and roof checks follow the shop's ladder and confined-area rules; nobody goes on a roof in wind to photograph a vent, and nobody enters a crawlspace that took floodwater without boots, gloves and a second person outside.

8. Write the scope lines. Each flag becomes a line or a written exclusion: an elevated stand or wall platform to a stated height, wind anchoring to the listed method, an ember-resistant listed vent cap, two seismic straps and a flexible listed connector, a permit. Acceptance: every flagged item appears as a priced line or an exclusion the customer initials. Wrong looks like a flag with no line. Stop rule: a flag the estimator cannot price goes back to the owner, not out to the customer. Hazard: none, desk work.

The record this produces

A hazard block on the lead, carried into the job: parcel number, flood zone with panel and date, BFE, fire zone and code, wind speed and basis, seismic category, the two screen answers, the site photos, and the scope line each flag produced. The installer reads it before loading the truck; the permit tech reads it filling the application; and two years later, after an event, it is the record of what the shop knew.

Worked pass

A whole-system replacement request on a coastal street.

HAZARD BLOCK            lead 2291   checked 10/14  KM
parcel       07-114-022  footprint match: yes
flood        Zone AE  panel 0418F  eff. date on map
             BFE 9.0 ft   community freeboard +1 ft
             required equipment elev 10.0 ft
             elev cert on file: LAG 6.8 ft
fire         not mapped (county overlay checked)
wind         150 mph ult., ASCE 7 per county table
             wind-borne debris region: yes
seismic      SDC B
SI screen    prior damage: YES (water in garage 2y)
             other contractor: YES (drywall, floors)
             -> ROUTED to owner 10/14, FPA called

• Steps 1 to 5 pass. The parcel matched, the zone and design values were recorded with their sources.
• Step 6 fails and takes its stop rule. Both answers came back yes: the garage took water two years ago and a flooring contractor is starting next month. The HVAC replacement is one piece of a combined repair, so the owner held the estimate and called the floodplain administrator, who asked for the combined project scope from every contractor before ruling.
• Step 7: the estimator measured the existing condenser pad at 3.6 in above adjacent grade. Against the certificate's lowest adjacent grade of 6.8 ft, 6.8 plus 0.3 puts the pad top at about 7.1 ft. The required elevation is 10.0 ft, so 10.0 minus 7.1 leaves 2.9 ft, about 35 in, to gain.
• Step 8: scope lines written for an elevated platform carrying the condenser at or above 10.0 ft, wind anchoring of the unit to the platform for the 150 mph value, and the air handler relocated from the garage floor to the attic. The estimate went out after the administrator's answer, with the condition stated.

What changes the answer: had both screen questions come back no, step 6 passes and the elevation scope still applies, because IRC R322.1.6 in the 2018 and 2021 editions, as adopted by your jurisdiction, puts replaced mechanical equipment in a flood hazard area at or above the elevation required for the lowest floor whether or not the job is a substantial improvement. Some communities exempt in-kind replacement below that line and some do not; the permit counter is the answer, not this card.

References

• 44 CFR 59.1 (definitions of substantial improvement and substantial damage) and 44 CFR 60.3 (floodplain management criteria), National Flood Insurance Program.
• International Residential Code R322 (flood-resistant construction), R337 in the California Residential Code (wildfire), and the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code, each as adopted by your jurisdiction.
• ASCE 7, Minimum Design Loads, in the edition your jurisdiction adopted, for wind speed and seismic design values.
• See related: The Substantial Improvement Fifty Percent Rule; Flood Zones, Base Flood Elevation and Equipment; Design Events: What the Code Assumes Will Happen to the House; the Place group's cards on reading the flood map and finding local design numbers.