Minnesota Architect seal requirements: size, wording, and the rule that sets them

One board covers all of them. Minn. R. 1800.4200, subp. 3, item A states that the board licenses applicants as an architect, a professional engineer, a land surveyor, a landscape architect, a professional geologist, or a professional soil scientist — the Minnesota Board of Architecture, Engineering, Land Surveying, Landscape Architecture, Geoscience and Interior Design. A single rule, Minn. R. 1800.4300, gives every one of those professions its seal in a single sentence, changing only the legend. Assuming Minnesota architects answer to a separate architects' board, as the pattern in most states would suggest, points at a board that does not exist here. (Minn. R. 1800.4200, subp. 3, item A; Minn. R. 1800.4300; Minn. Stat. § 326.12, subd. 2)

On every sheet. Minn. R. 1800.4200, subp. 3 requires the certification by each of the professions responsible for the preparation of plans or drawings to be shown on each sheet of the set, and allows the certification for bound specifications, plats, reports or other documents to appear instead on the title sheet, first sheets, or certification page. Minn. Stat. § 326.12, subd. 3 draws the same line from the other side: the required signature and certification must appear on all pages of plans and drawings, but only on the first page of specifications, plats, reports, or other documents. (Minn. R. 1800.4200, subp. 3; Minn. Stat. § 326.12, subd. 3)

The rule prints it in full: "I hereby certify that this plan, specification, or report was prepared by me or under my direct supervision and that I am a duly Licensed Architect under the laws of the state of Minnesota," followed by Signature, Typed or Printed Name, Date and Lic. No. Two details trip people up. The title is Licensed Architect — Minnesota does not use "Registered Architect" — and the license number belongs in this block, not on the seal, which under Minn. R. 1800.4300 bears only the licensee's name and the legend. (Minn. R. 1800.4200, subp. 4; Minn. R. 1800.4300)

Only as coordinator, with each discipline still certifying its own work. Minn. R. 1800.4200, subp. 1a, item E permits a licensee to accept assignments for coordinating an entire project provided that each design discipline signs and certifies as the licensee responsible for preparing their design. Item D independently forbids affixing a signature or certification to any plan or document not prepared under the licensee's responsible charge, and item B allows two or more licensees to certify the same document if each designates the specific subject matter for which that licensee is responsible. (Minn. R. 1800.4200, subp. 1a, items B, D and E)

No, and the rule leaves no exception. Minn. R. 1800.4200, subp. 5 provides that when a document has been certified with the signature of the design professional, that signature becomes a permanent part of that document and must not be removed at a later date for any reason. Stripping the certification out of a CAD file or a PDF before reissuing a superseded drawing — a routine habit in many offices — is exactly what the subpart forbids. (Minn. R. 1800.4200, subp. 5)