As used in this Chapter:

1. (1) “BOARD” shall mean the Tennessee Board of Examiners for Architects and Engineers created by Chapter No. 263 of the “Public Act of 1979.”
2. (2) “NCEES” shall mean the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying.
3. (3) “NCARB” shall mean the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.
4. (4) “CLARB” shall mean the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards.

5. (5) Engineering includes the term professional engineering, the practice of engineering, and the practice of professional engineering by registrants.

   1. (a) Professional engineering, the practice of engineering, and the practice of professional engineering may be used interchangeably and mean any service or creative work, the adequate performance of which requires engineering education, training, examination, and the experience in the application of special knowledge of the mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences.
   2. (b) Services or creative work may be referred to as consultation, investigation, evaluation, planning, and design of engineering works and systems, planning the use of air, land, and/or water, teaching the principles and methods of engineering design, engineering surveys, and the inspection of construction for the purpose of determining if the work is proceeding in compliance with the contract documents.
   3. (c) Services or work rendered, either private or public, involves safeguarding the health, safety, and welfare of the public.
   4. (d) Engineering includes other professional services as may be necessary to the planning, progress, inspection, observation, and completion of an engineered work or system.
   5. (e) Commissioning of an engineered system or structure is considered the practice of engineering.
   6. (f) The practice of engineering may include the review and coordination of technical submissions prepared by others, including the work of other professionals working with or under the direction of an engineer with professional regard to judging the ability of each professional to execute their aspect of work so as to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public, when such coordination involves multiple disciplines.
   7. (g) Only those registrants who are qualified to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public via the provision of services or creative work may do so. Qualifications are based equally on the three foundational requirements for registration, in the areas of Education, Experience, and Examination.
   8. (h) A person who practices any branch of engineering by verbal claim, sign, advertisement, letterhead, or card, or in any way represents themselves to be an engineer or, through the use of some other title, implies that they are an engineer or that they are licensed under this Chapter, or who holds themselves out as able to perform, or does perform, any engineering services or work, or any other service designated by the practitioner which is recognized as engineering, shall be construed to practice or offer to practice engineering within the meaning and intent of the Chapter.

   9. (i) The practice of engineering is hereby explicitly defined to include the following:

      1. 1. Consultation, investigation, evaluation, analysis, planning, and/or related tasks in support of the development of engineered works or systems;
      2. 2. Providing an expert witness or opinion relative to engineered works or systems;
      3. 3. Tasks in support of testing and evaluation of materials for construction or other engineering use;
      4. 4. Design, conceptual design, and/or conceptual design coordination of engineered works or systems;
      5. 5. Development or optimization of plans and specifications for engineered works or systems;
      6. 6. Planning the use of or alteration of air, land, or water, or the design or analysis of works or systems for the use or alteration of air, land, or water;
      7. 7. Being in responsible charge of the teaching of engineering;
      8. 8. Performing a study which has design elements included in part 1. above for engineered works or systems;
      9. 9. Tasks in support of construction, alteration, or repair of real property, using design elements included in part 1. above, for engineered works or systems;
      10. 10. Tasks in support of preparations of an Operations and Maintenance Manual, using design elements included in part 1., above, for engineered works or systems;
      11. 11. Tasks in support of the review of the construction of or installation of engineered works to monitor compliance with drawings and specifications;
      12. 12. A service design, analysis, or other work, as determined by the Board, performed for a public or private entity in connection with a utility, structure, building, machine, equipment, process, system, work, project or industrial or consumer product, or equipment of a mechanical, electrical, electronic, chemical, nuclear, hydraulic, pneumatic, geotechnical, or thermal nature;
      13. 13. Surveying incidental to the practice of engineering, excluding the surveying of real property for the establishment of land boundaries, rights of way, easements, and the dependent or independent surveys or resurveys of the public land survey system; or
      14. 14. Architecture and landscape architecture that is incidental to the practice of engineering that:
   10. (i) Can be safely and competently performed by the registrant without jeopardizing the health, safety, and welfare of the public; and
   11. (ii) Is work that the registrant is fully qualified to provide on the basis of education, examination, and experience.

6. (6) The practice of architecture shall be defined as the art and science of designing, in whole or in part, the exterior and interior of buildings and the site around them, in a manner that protects the public health, safety, and welfare. The practice of architecture includes providing or offering to provide planning services, developing concepts, preparing documents that define form and function, coordinating consultants, and construction administration.

   1. (a) Planning services include, but are not limited to, programming and planning.

   2. (b) Developing concepts includes, but is not limited to, preliminary studies, pre-design, investigations, and evaluations. Considerations for developing concepts may include, but are not limited to the following:

      1. 1. Overall design of buildings and related sites.
      2. 2. Building classification (e.g., building occupancy, types of construction).
      3. 3. Building circulation and exiting (e.g., corridors, stairways, exit width, travel distance).
      4. 4. Life safety considerations of building components (e.g., requirements for sprinklers, fire ratings fire walls, separations, fire alarms, smoke control).
      5. 5. Interior space planning.
      6. 6. Interior and exterior finish materials (e.g., durability, function, aesthetics, fire ratings).
      7. 7. Environmental impacts (e.g., sound attenuation, quality of living impact on natural surroundings, sustainability).
      8. 8. Barrier-free design and accessibility requirements.

   3. (c) Preparing documents that define form and function includes, but is not limited to, drawings and technical submissions including the requirements of the authorities having jurisdiction. The documents prepared may include, but are not limited to, the following:

      1. 1. Site layout and site drawings (e.g., parking, zoning requirements, grading, building layout, coordination of utilities).
      2. 2. Preparing working drawings and specifications for all aspects of a building shell and interior.
   4. (d) Coordinating consultants includes, but is not limited to, the coordination of any elements of technical submissions prepared by others and overall project coordination.
   5. (e) Construction administration includes, but is not limited to, evaluation of the construction to determine that the work is proceeding in accordance with the contract documents.

   6. (f) Design, conceptual design, and/or conceptual design coordination of architecture works or systems includes but is not limited to:

      1. 1. Engineering and landscape architecture that is incidental to the practice of architecture that:
   7. (i) Can be safely and competently performed by the registrant without jeopardizing the health, safety, and welfare of the public; and
   8. (ii) Is work that the registrant is fully qualified to provide on the basis of education, examination, and experience.

   9. (g) Construction activities that are not the practice of architecture include activities that do not interpret or revise the architect’s sealed and signed technical submissions. Examples include, but are not limited to:

      1. 1. Administration, review, and oversight of construction-related activities, such as those responsibilities defined in the contracts between contractor and owner;
      2. 2. Contractor Pay Applications;
      3. 3. Change Order costs;
      4. 4. Schedule adherence;
      5. 5. Site access requirements; and/or
      6. 6. Site safety.

7. (7) The practice of landscape architecture means the art and science of investigating and designing, in whole or in part, outdoor spaces in a manner that protects the public health, safety, and welfare.

   1. (a) To practice landscape architecture is to render or offer to render professional services of master and regional planning, property evaluation, developing concepts, and/or designing and administering of outdoor spaces by application of mathematical, physical, and social-sciences principles, evaluation, planning, and design; it includes preparing, filing, and administering plans, drawings, specifications, permits, and other project related contract documents that direct, inform or advise on the functional use construction and preservation of natural and built environments.
   2. (b) Landscape architecture involves the relationships of people, flora and fauna, and physical elements, with emphasis on the function, preservation, conservation, restoration, and enhancement of the physical environment, by arranging land and water and the elements thereon, including the alignment of roadways and trails and the location of buildings and the site area around them including service areas, barrier-free design and accessibility requirements, parking areas, walkways, steps, ramps, pools, and other structures and the grading of the land, surface and sub-soil drainage, erosion control, planting, reforestation, and the preservation of the natural landscape ecology and environment in accordance with the accepted professional standard of public health, welfare, and safety.

   3. (c) Design, conceptual design, and/or conceptual design coordination of landscape architecture works or systems includes, but is not limited to:

      1. 1. Engineering and architecture that is incidental to the practice of landscape architecture that:
   4. (i) Can be safely and competently performed by the registrant without jeopardizing the health, safety, and welfare of the public; and
   5. (ii) Is work that the registrant is fully qualified to provide on the basis of education, examination, and experience.

   6. (d) Activities that are not considered the practice of landscape architecture include activities that do not interpret or revise the landscape architect’s sealed and signed technical submission. Examples include, but are not limited to:

      1. 1. Acting under the supervision of a registrant or any employee of a person lawfully engaged in the practice of landscape architecture, provided that the individual being supervised does not assume responsible charge of design or supervision;
      2. 2. Engaging in the practice of planning as customarily provided by municipal and regional planners; and
      3. 3. Engaging in preparing planting plans and items incidental to the duties of nursery occupations, gardeners, or landscape contractors, so long as the provisions of T.C.A. § 62-2-102(b)(1)(B) are met.

Authority: T.C.A. § 62-2-203(c). Administrative History: Original rule was certified May 3, 1974. Repealed and refiled October 2, 1978; effective January 29, 1979. Repealed and refiled January 14, 1980; effective February 28, 1980. Amendment filed December 9, 1991; effective January 23, 1992. Amendment filed January 19, 1995; effective April 4, 1995. Amendment filed September 15, 2015; effective December 14, 2015. Amendments filed March 5, 2026; effective June 3, 2026.