Interior Design Licensing in State of Georgia

Hello bloggers!

After learning about the NCIDQ Exam and the process leading up to it, I decided to look into what the state of Georgia has to say about interior design certification. As we discussed in class, Georgia recently amended its legislation concerning the rules that govern practicing interior designers. It is now as follows:

“50-9-.07 Signing and Sealing Documents as Registered Interior Designer. (1) Every holder of a certificate of registration shall secure a SEAL of the design shown below, which shall be imprinted on all documents prepared by the Registered Interior Designer or prepared under his responsible control, or which is a prototypical document for which the Registered Interior Designer of Record is assuming professional responsibility as allowed by this Chapter. The SEAL shall be imprinted on each drawing, imprinted on the cover and index pages identifying all specifications covered by the index pages and imprinted on all other documents of service as well. For all documents of service to be submitted for the purpose of obtaining a building permit or for any other requirement as set forth by law, the registered interior designer’s signature shall be original, in permanent blue ink, with the issue date and purpose appropriately identified on the document.

(2) Nothing in these rules shall preclude the use of a seal electronically applied to the document; however, to restrict electronic access to his seal, the Registered Interior Designer of record may elect, for all documents subsequently issued, to substitute for his seal the following notation “These documents have been properly sealed and signed by (named) Registered Interior Designer of record. Original permitted sets of these documents are on file with (name of permitting authority) and are kept at the job site.”

(3) All subsequent revisions to the documents shall be made under the responsible control of the Registered Interior Designer of record and when so noted shall be considered the same as those originally signed, sealed and dated.”

So, to sum that up, all certified interior designers registered in the state of Georgia will receive a seal, just like an architect. This is exciting news to me. I think it gives us a professional edge in our field to be able to sign and seal documents. According to Georgia.gov, there are only 391 registered interior designers currently in the state. This number seems very low to me! I cannot wait to take my NCIDQ exam and join the ranks as a licensed interior designer! Not only will it give me a professional edge, it will show my clients that I take my job seriously and am well qualified to work as a designer.

Jessie

Information retrieved on 26 April, 2012 from http://sos.georgia.gov/plb/architects/