North Dakota · Architect seal requirements
North Dakota Architect seal requirements: size, wording, and the rule that sets them
As of
Architects in North Dakota seal under N.D. Admin. Code § 8-06-01-02 (Design of stamp); § 8-06-01-03 (Use of the stamp); N.D.C.C. § 43-03-22, administered by the North Dakota State Board of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. The seal reads “LICENSED ARCHITECT - STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA”. No less than one and one-half inches and no more than two inches in diameter.
Two boards, two rules and two seals that look nothing alike. Engineers and land surveyors are registered by the North Dakota State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors under N.D. Admin. Code ch. 28-02.1-08; architects and landscape architects are licensed by the North Dakota State Board of Architecture and Landscape Architecture under ch. 8-06-01. Landscape architects use the same stamp as architects with the legend "LICENSED LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT - STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA". Section 8-06-01-02(1) also preserves an older, non-circular stamp — a North Dakota outline carrying a certification statement with date and license number lines — for persons licensed before the current rules took effect, but the published rule leaves the date of those earlier rules blank. The statute and the rule state the engineering legend differently: N.D.C.C. § 43-19.1-21 gives it in lower case as "registered professional engineer" or "registered professional land surveyor" and offers no combined form, while the board's seal design rule capitalizes the phrases and adds "Registered Professional Engineer & Land Surveyor" for dual registrants. The rule governs the design of the seal, so its capitalization and its combined form are what a seal should follow. Section 28-02.1-08-02 was last amended effective October 1, 2021 and § 28-02.1-08-03 effective January 1, 2024; the architect provisions have been effective since January 1, 2014.
North Dakota Architect seal
- Legend
- “LICENSED ARCHITECT - STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA”
- Diameter
- No less than one and one-half inches and no more than two inches in diameter.
- Expiration date
- The stamp carries the literal field "DATE:__/__/____" for the date of signing, alongside the name, license number and legend. That is not a license expiration date.(N.D. Admin. Code § 8-06-01-02(1))
- Signature date
- The original signature appears across the face of each stamp imprint "along with the date of signing", and the stamp is prima facie evidence of responsible control only if it has been signed and dated. A digitally stamped document submitted for building permitting needs a wet signature and date written over the digital ones.(N.D. Admin. Code § 8-06-01-03(5) and (6))
- City on seal
- Required contents are the architect's name, license number, the "DATE" line and "LICENSED ARCHITECT - STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA". No city or place of business.(N.D. Admin. Code § 8-06-01-02(1))
- The stamp shall contain the name of the licensed architect, the individual's license number, the word "DATE:__/__/____" and the words "LICENSED ARCHITECT - STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA".(N.D. Admin. Code § 8-06-01-02(1))
- The rule prescribes the arrangement by illustration — the stamp "shall be as per the format below" — with "LICENSED ARCHITECT" curving along the top of the ring and "STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA" along the bottom, and the name, license number and date line stacked inside.(N.D. Admin. Code § 8-06-01-02(1))
- The format of the stamp may be a rubber stamp, an embosser, or a digital image, and each licensee is responsible for procuring the licensee's own stamp.(N.D. Admin. Code § 8-06-01-02(2) and (3))
- The original signature of the licensed architect named on the stamp shall appear across the face of each original stamp imprint, along with the date of signing. This signature may be either digital or wet.(N.D. Admin. Code § 8-06-01-03(5))
- Documents with digital stamp, signature, and date that are submitted for building permitting shall have a wet signature and date written over the digital stamp, signature, and date. This requirement is for any project or building type whether exempt or not exempted under statutes of North Dakota.(N.D. Admin. Code § 8-06-01-03(5))
- The stamp shall be imprinted on all documents prepared for construction or technical submissions whether or not the project or building type is exempt under North Dakota statutes.(N.D. Admin. Code § 8-06-01-03(1))
- Documents used for construction shall be imprinted on each final drawing sheet and on the cover, title, certification, or index page of each set of the project manual or specifications; technical submissions, on each final design drawing and on the cover, title, certification, or index page of each set. Letter-formatted reports or professional opinions shall be imprinted at the end of the letter in the area of the letter's salutation.(N.D. Admin. Code § 8-06-01-03(2), (3) and (4))
- The stamp is prima facie evidence that the drawings, project manual, specification, technical submission or letter-formatted report was prepared by or under the responsible control of the individual named on it only if the stamp has been signed and dated.(N.D. Admin. Code § 8-06-01-03(6))
North Dakota architect seal questions
Does a digital North Dakota architect stamp still need a wet signature for permits?▾
A fully digital architect stamp does not survive the permit counter. Documents with a digital stamp, signature and date that are submitted for building permitting shall have a wet signature and date written over the digital stamp, signature and date, for any project or building type whether exempt or not exempted under North Dakota statutes. (N.D. Admin. Code § 8-06-01-03(5))
Does a North Dakota architect's stamp say "Registered Architect"?▾
No. The rule fixes one string — "LICENSED ARCHITECT - STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA" — hyphen and all, and a landscape architect's reads "LICENSED LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT - STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA". "Registered Architect" survives in North Dakota only inside the certification wording of the older, non-circular stamp that § 8-06-01-02(1) preserves for persons licensed before the current rules — a North Dakota outline reciting that the plan, specification or report was prepared by or under the direct supervision of the signer and that the signer is "a duly Registered Architect under the laws of the State of North Dakota". That older form is still in circulation and is not a model for a new stamp. (N.D. Admin. Code § 8-06-01-02(1))
What date field must a North Dakota architect's stamp carry?▾
A blank one, printed on the stamp itself. The four required contents are the architect's name, the license number, the words "DATE:__/__/____" and the legend — so the date line is part of the artwork, not something written beside the imprint afterwards. It is a signing-date blank, not a license expiration date; nothing on a North Dakota architect's stamp states when the license expires. A stamp ordered without the DATE line does not match the prescribed format. (N.D. Admin. Code § 8-06-01-02(1))
Can a North Dakota architect use a fully digital stamp on permit drawings?▾
Not on its own. Documents with a digital stamp, signature and date that are submitted for building permitting must have a wet signature and date written over the digital stamp, signature and date, and that requirement applies to any project or building type whether or not it is exempt under North Dakota statutes. It reaches only documents whose stamp, signature and date are already digital, and it sits in the use-of-stamp rule rather than the design rule, so an architect who reads only § 8-06-01-02 will never meet it. The stamp is prima facie evidence that the work was prepared under the architect's responsible control only if it has been signed and dated. (N.D. Admin. Code § 8-06-01-03(5) and (6))
Is a North Dakota architect's stamp the same size as the engineer's seal?▾
No, and the two rules are not even the same kind of specification. The architect's stamp is given as a range — no less than one and one-half inches and no more than two inches in diameter — and the rule fixes no dimension for the inner circle that its illustrated format shows. The engineers' and land surveyors' board fixes an exact geometry instead: two concentric circles, the outer one and three-fourth inches and the inner one and one-fourth inches. Architects and landscape architects are licensed by the North Dakota State Board of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, a separate agency, so the engineer's dimensions are simply the wrong rule to copy. (N.D. Admin. Code § 8-06-01-02(1); cf. § 28-02.1-08-02(1))
Where does a North Dakota architect stamp a letter-format report?▾
At the end of the letter, in the area of the letter's salutation. Every other document type in the chapter is stamped at the front of the set — construction documents on each final drawing sheet and on the cover, title, certification or index page of each set of the project manual, technical submissions on each final design drawing and on the cover, title, certification or index page of each set — so an architect who puts the stamp at the head of a report letter has chosen the one position the rule does not name for it. (N.D. Admin. Code § 8-06-01-03(2), (3) and (4))
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