DSA IR 11B-8 - USE OF PREDETERMINED CONSTRUCTION TOLERANCE GUIDELINES FOR ACCESSIBILITY (with revisions issued through Jan. 2011)

5. ESTABLISHING TOLERANCE GUIDELINES: In conclusion, establishing predetermined construction tolerances guidelines related to the requirements for accessibility contained in the California Building Code is inappropriate.

As previously stated, the California Attorney General’s office has indicated that construction tolerance guidelines "may wrongfully be viewed by some to have the effect of law" ¹ and "unnecessarily encourages contractors and others to deviate from the access regulations contained in the California Building Code." ¹

The use of predetermined construction tolerance guidelines allows a blanket acceptance of departures from the building code requirements with no analysis as to the reason the use of a tolerance is either justified or warranted. As a result, the guidelines are then arbitrarily substituted for building code requirements, without taking into account the specific facts of each circumstance.

It is preferred that construction tolerance acceptance be on a case-by-case basis, with the degree of departure from the literal requirements coupled with the specific reason that the requirement was unable to be achieved as the basis to be utilized for analysis. Many times when questions arise regarding tolerances, it is often found after analysis that neither field conditions nor manufacturing variables contributed to the deviation, but rather there was simply a lack of proper planning or coordination. Inadequate planning and coordination are not justifications for the use of construction tolerances.

¹ Letter from the State of California Department of Justice to the Orange Empire Chapter of the International Conference of Building Officials dated August 22, 2002.