ICC-ES Acceptance Criteria
Manufacturers Come Together to Develop
Building Code Acceptance Criteria for ICC-ES
By Rich Davis, Editor-in Chief
Early in 2005, helical pier manufacturers were starting to line up at the offices of the International Code Council Evaluation Services or ICC-ES www.icc-es.org to begin the process of applying for building code certifications for their helical pier products. ICC-ES is responsible for evaluating and certifying products used throughout the construction industry in the U.S. – an enormous number of products ranging from bolts to plastics to structural steel and everything in between. ICC-ES was formed in 2003. Prior to then, there were four separate building-product evaluation services - National Evaluation Service, ICBO Evaluation Service, BOCA Evaluation Services, and SBCCI Public Safety Testing and Evaluation Services, Inc. ICC-ES is now the sole governing body in the U.S. for building code certifications.
Prior to 2003, a relatively small number of helical pier manufacturers had received certifications from one or more of the agencies that preceded ICC-ES. These manufacturers included A.B. Chance www.abchance.com, Aluma-Form Dixie (now MacLean-Dixie), www.joslynmfg.com, Atlas Systems (now a division of A.B. Chance) www.atlassys.com, and Ram Jack Solutions www.ramjack.com. Each company’s certifications were grandfathered into the newly formed ICC-ES with the understanding that obtaining new certifications would be a requirement. Obtaining ICC-ES product certification is strategically important for helical pier manufacturers in order to gain credibility and the trust of the engineers who desire to specify helical piers for their projects.
As the ICC-ES officials began to assess the applications from helical pier manufacturers, they quickly realized there was no suitable acceptance criteria (AC) or standards established with which to test and certify the wide assortment of helical pier products. ICC-ES officials quickly placed a moratorium on new application processing until a suitable AC could be developed. ICC-ES officials then suggested to several of the helical pier manufacturers that the (helical pier) industry should consider banding together for the purpose of developing an AC and submitting it to ICC-ES for approval.
Pat Hutchinson, president of Cantsink www.cantsink.com , a helical pier manufacturing company based in Atlanta, GA, was one of the people ready to submit his company’s application when the ICC-ES placed the moratorium on accepting new applications. Pat then took the initiative to contact several other helical pier manufacturers in an attempt to put together an AC development project. After a couple of meetings in the first few months of 2005, the AC development project was started. During the months that followed, the group of manufacturers decided to formalize the project in order to improve communications and the overall draft development and review process. The Ad Hoc Committee of Helical Foundation Manufacturers (CHFM) was formally organized in a meeting in Kansas City in December of the same year.
The CHFM membership included the following nine helical pier manufacturers and distributors; A.B. Chance/Atlas Systems www.abchance.com or www.atlassys.com, Cantsink www.cantsink.com, Earth Contact Products www.earthcontactproducts.com, Fasteel/Engineered Technologies www.fasteel.com, GripTite www.griptite.com, MacLean-Dixie a division of Joslyn www.joslynmfg.com, Magnum Piering www.magnumpiering.com, Ram Jack Solutions www.ramjack.com, and Techno Metal Post www.technometalpost.com.
The AC development process continued into the summer of 2006, and the CHFM membership unanimously approved the final draft of the AC at their June meeting in Kansas City. The document was submitted to ICC-ES in mid-July. At this time, ICC-ES has not posted the AC for public review. HelicalPierWorld.com is closely following the AC approval process and will report new developments as they occur.
