Has any one heard of HWC, a third party testing agency for modular trailers etc? We have a new Ice house trailer being installed (first one in our county) and this is the company doing the listing. They are supposed to be approved by the DCA in Tallahassee. They are from Clearwater.

Nope, I have not yet heard of them. If they are a true 3rd party independent testing agency then DCA would have nothing to do with that. Someone please jump in and correct me if I'm wrong.

The only thing I can think of, is that maybe DCA has "state approved" this Ice house trailer unit. In that case, a plan review is not even required and the state plan approval for this unit would be available for view on the DCA website.

Right?

I don't see HWC

http://www.floridabuilding.org/mb/mb_org_regi_srch.asp

Ice House America is here

http://www.floridabuilding.org/common/c_org_chg_status_dtl.asp?id=3853

Nick I am pretty sure the state is pretty much out of the construction business. They closed the construction division of DMS (laying me off) and now virtually all permitting, plan review and inspection is tossed back to the local AHJ. I did hear that Juvenile Justice and DOC are using private inspections, using my old boss Richard Webb's company.

DCA Manufactured Buildings

I was thinking that if it was some kind of manufactured building then the plan review may already be done by the state. You would have to search on the dca website to find out if it is even there.

I was thinking of the plan review of the site/installation. The building itself is just another listed componant isn't it?
You still have to permit the grading, tiedown, utility installation and any other ancillary construction of steps, porches, awnings etc, along with any interior modifications to the trailer.
My wife is in the middle of one of these, setting a sales trailer in a new community. The trailer itself is a listed assembly but the permit process is almost as complicated as if this was site built building. The sales geeks changed the facade and the whole thing had to go back through permitting and plan review.

Yes, you are correct. The building would not be subject to plan review if it is listed on the DCA site, but the "setup" would still require permitting.

I really got into this when I worked down in the keys. We had a lot of manufactured building installations and they were all pre-approved by the state. This saved time as that portion of the plan review is already done. And you can pull the plans up on the web if you have any doubts. I found that the thing to check was the expiration as many of them may not be current.

We had one of those here. You are correct it is a manufactured building, and a 3rd party agency did all the plan review and inspections on the building. Mine came with a DCA letter, so it is a DCA approved manufactured building.

Only need to be concerned with all the site installation and service. There was a service panelboard installed by the manufacturer on the outside wall of the ice house.

The ice house was wired 208 3 phase and the power company installed 240 with a high leg, what a mess that was.

I do not see where this has been answered yet. HWC is Hilborn, Werner & Carter Engineers. I used to work for them as a 3rd party plans examiner. We had two sections a HUD review section that reviewed mobile units and a Modular section that reviewed to FBC for the DCA. There is also an 3rd party inspection section that performs manufacturing plant quality control inspections and prepares the certificates to be attached to the buildings. They are listed as 3rd party agents on the FloridaBuilding website.