Insights
Analysis for people who have to get this right
Texas regulates engineering closely, and most of what is written about it online either reproduces the statute without explaining it or explains it without citing anything. These pieces do both, and every source is listed and linked.
Windstorm law
TWIA insurance eligibility, read from the Insurance Code
Whether coastal work can be insured through the association is not an underwriting preference. It is a sentence in section 2210.258, and it has two exceptions an agent should know by heart.
5 primary sources cited
Windstorm law
TWIA coverage for homes built before 1988, and where the date stops helping
An older coastal house can be eligible for association coverage without any inspection, on the strength of its date. The statute also says exactly what that date does not carry forward.
2 primary sources cited
Windstorm law
Texas windstorm certificate lookup: the TDI search, the TWIA window, and what neither proves
There are two places to look, and the one a coastal file needs depends on when the work was certified. Neither one says anything about the roof as it is today.
6 primary sources cited
Windstorm law
Texas windstorm certificate: what section 2210.2515 actually requires
The WPI-8 is the department's form. The obligations behind it are in section 2210.2515, and two of them, the six month limit and the bar on rescission, are rarely mentioned until they matter.
3 primary sources cited
Windstorm law
Ongoing vs completed improvement, and why a deed decides the windstorm route
Whether coastal work is ongoing or completed sounds like a question about construction. The statute answers it with a question about title, and that choice changes which certificate route is open.
4 primary sources cited
Windstorm law
Post-construction evaluation reports: what the engineer affirms and answers for
When coastal work was finished without inspection, the certificate rests on one engineer's sealed report. The statute says what that report must contain, and who may call the engineer to account for it.
4 primary sources cited
Windstorm law
Engineer letter vs windstorm certificate: which one the association may rely on
An engineer's sealed letter and a windstorm certificate both look official and both concern the same building. Only one is a document the association's statute names.
6 primary sources cited
Windstorm law
Windstorm inspector rules for roofers: the paperwork before tear off
For a roofer on the coast the certificate is decided by paperwork on either side of the job and by one inspection in the middle of it. Here is what the statute and the department say about each.
3 primary sources cited
Windstorm law
Roof certification for insurance, and why it is not a WPI-8
On a coastal sale somebody asks for the roof certification, and somebody else hands over a WPI-8, and both think the question is answered. They are answers to two different questions.
6 primary sources cited
Windstorm law
Inspection vs forensic report vs certificate, three different coastal documents
An adjuster, an agent, and an owner can all say inspection after a storm and mean three different documents. Each has a different author, a different question, and a different weight.
7 primary sources cited
Government procurement
The Texas Professional Services Procurement Act
Chapter 2254 of the Texas Government Code prohibits a governmental entity from buying engineering on price. What the statute says, in the order it says it, and what happens to a contract that ignores it.
4 primary sources cited
Licensure
What a Texas engineering firm registration is
In Texas the individual license is only half of it. The business entity has to be registered too, and the statute restricts what an unregistered company may call itself.
4 primary sources cited
Licensure
The engineer of record in Texas, and what actually governs it
The phrase is used constantly on Texas projects and appears nowhere in the statute or the board rules. What Texas actually regulates is the seal, and the concept behind it is responsible charge.
4 primary sources cited
Licensure
How to look up a Texas PE license, and what the roster leaves out
The board publishes a searchable roster and, separately, issues official verifications between licensing boards. They answer different questions and are frequently confused.
4 primary sources cited
Start a job
Tell us what the letter is for and we will tell you yes or no
Send the address, what the document is for, and the date it has to be in hand. Some jobs this firm cannot take, and you will hear that in the first conversation rather than after you have paid and waited.