Code of Massachusetts Regulations
780 CMR - STATE BOARD OF BUILDING REGULATIONS AND STANDARDS
Chapter 110 - Special Regulations
Section 780 CMR 110.R3 - MANUFACTURED BUILDINGS, BUILDING COMPONENTS AND MOBILE HOMES
Current through Register 1531, September 27, 2024
(Note: 780 CMR 110.R3 is unique to Massachusetts)
PART I -GENERAL
APPROVAL. Approval by the State Board of Building Regulations and Standards (BBRS).
BUILDING SYSTEM. Plans, specifications and documentation for a system of manufactured buildings or for a type or a system of manufactured building components, which may include structural, electrical, mechanical, plumbing and fire protection systems and other systems affecting health and safety, including variations which are submitted as part of the building system.
CERTIFICATION. Any manufactured building, manufactured building component or manufactured home which meets the provisions of the applicable Codes and Rules and Regulations; and which has been labeled accordingly.
CODE. 780 CMR or Specialized Codes as defined.
DEALER OF MODULAR HOMES. (For purposes of this definition, a modular home is a single or multiple, single-family residential manufactured building.) Any individual, organization or firm engaged in the retail selling, or offering for sale, brokering, or distribution of modular homes, primarily to a person who in good faith, purchases or leases such home for purposes other than resale. Such individual, organization or firm shall be registered with the Board of Building Regulations and Standards in accordance with policies established therefore.
DEPARTMENT - DPS. The Department of Public Safety, Division of Inspections.
INSPECTION AGENCY. Independent agency, sometimes referred to as "third-party agency," retained by the manufacturer and approved by BBRS to perform inspections and evaluations of building systems, compliance assurance programs, manufactured buildings, and manufactured building components.
INSTALLATION. The process of affixing, or assembling and affixing a manufactured building, manufactured building component or manufactured home on the building site, and connecting it to utilities, and/or to an existing building. Installation may also mean the connecting of two or more manufactured housing units designed and approved to be so connected for use as a dwelling.
INSTALLER OF MANUFACTURED BUILDINGS. An individual who, on the basis of training and experience, has been certified by a specific manufacturer of manufactured homes as competent to supervise the placement and connection required to install the manufactured homes of that manufacturer. Said certification by the manufacturer shall be in writing; additionally, the certified installer shall possess picture identification in the form of a driver's license or other picture identification acceptable to the building official in accordance with the International Building Code 2009 with Massachusetts Amendments.
LABEL. An approved device or seal evidencing certification in accordance with the applicable Codes and Rules and Regulations.
LOCAL ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. A department or agency in a municipality charged with the enforcement of 780 CMR and appropriate specialized codes which include, but are not limited to, the Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters regulations at 248 CMR and 527 CMR 12.00: 2008 Massachusetts Electrical Code (Amendments).
MANUFACTURED BUILDING. Any manufactured building which has concealed elements, such as electrical, mechanical, plumbing, fire protection, insulation, and other systems affecting health and safety, and which is manufactured or assembled in accordance with 780 CMR and pertinent regulations, in manufacturing facilities, on or off the building site. Also, any manufactured building as defined above which does not have concealed elements, but which has been approved by the BBRS at the request of the manufacturer. "Manufactured building" does not mean "manufactured home".
MANUFACTURED BUILDING COMPONENT. Any manufactured subsystem, manufactured subassembly, or other system designed for use in or as part of a structure having concealed elements such as electrical, mechanical, plumbing and fire protection systems and other systems affecting health and safety.
MANUFACTURED HOMES (Housing). As defined in 24 CFR, Part 3280.2; a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which in the traveling mode, is eight body feet or more in width or forty body feet or more in length, or, when erected on site, is 320 or more square feet, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein. Calculations used to determine the number of square feet in a structure will be based on the structure's exterior dimensions measured at the largest horizontal projections when erected on site. These dimensions will include all expandable rooms, cabinets, and other projections containing interior space, but do not include bay windows. (See 24 CFR, Part 3280.2 for a more detailed description of manufactured homes as defined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.)
RECERTIFIED MANUFACTURED BUILDING. Any manufactured building as defined in 780 CMR 110.R3 that was previously designed and constructed to conform with requirements of a particular use group or groups for use at a site and that subsequently is to be relocated to a different site. Such buildings, also known as relocatable units, shall be inspected by the responsible third-party inspection agency and recertified in accordance with 780 CMR and 110.R3 as applicable to ensure compliance with the new use group or groups if such use group or groups has changed or to requirements of the original use group or groups if not changed prior to being set at the new location.
SPECIALIZED CODE. All building codes, rules or regulations pertaining to building construction, reconstruction, alteration, repair or demolition promulgated by and under the authority of the various agencies which have been authorized from time to time by the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The specialized codes shall include, but not be limited to, the Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters regulations at 248 CMR and 527 CMR 12.00: 2008 Massachusetts Electrical Code (Amendments).
STATE ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES. Boards, commissions, departments or agencies authorized to promulgate, adopt and amend codes and rules and regulations relating to buildings and structures and parts thereof and limited to the BBRS, Massachusetts Board of Fire Prevention Regulations, Massachusetts State Examiners of Electricians, and the Massachusetts Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters.
STATE ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES. Boards, commissions, departments or agencies authorized to enforce the provisions of the codes and rules and regulations which have been promulgated, adopted and amended and which relate to buildings or structures and parts thereof and limited to the Department of Public Safety, Massachusetts Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters, and the Massachusetts State Examiners of Electricians.
Manufactured buildings or manufactured building components or manufactured homes, accepted by the State Enforcement Agencies and an inspection agency as having been manufactured according to an approved building system and an approved compliance assurance program, shall be certified by the BBRS upon the recommendation of the State Enforcement Agencies as complying with the requirements of the applicable codes and 780 CMR 110.R3. Certification shall be evidenced by the issuance of a label by the Board of Building Regulations and Standards and by attachment of the label to each certified manufactured building or manufactured building component (or groups of components).
If, in the opinion of the State Administrative Agencies, the shape or size of a building component is such that this information cannot be attached to it permanently, the information may be placed in a manual crated with the component or on a tag attached to the crate in which the component is shipped, if the information is not such that the future occupant of the building should know it. If the occupant will need to know the information, it shall be contained in a manual which shall be presented to the occupant upon transfer of possession. If life safety is involved, the item in question shall be plainly labeled.
Name of Third-Party Inspection Agency
__________________________________ ;
Name of Third-Party Inspector
At the direction of the BBRS labels and data plates may be limited in size and content for components whose shape and size does not permit the full information to be placed thereon.
The State Enforcement Agencies shall make, or cause to be made, such inspections of the entire processing of manufacturing, certifying, handling, storing and transporting of manufactured buildings or manufactured building components produced pursuant to approved building systems as they deem necessary.
The BBRS shall notify the State Administrative Agencies of such occurrences.
All information relating to building systems and compliance assurance programs which the manufacturer or other party considers proprietary shall be so designated by him at the time of its submission, and shall be so held by the State Enforcement Agencies and State Administrative Agencies, except as the State Administrative Agencies determine in each case, that disclosure is necessary to carry out the purposes of the applicable codes and 780 CMR 110.R3.
PART II -REQUIREMENTS FOR SUBMISSION OF BUILDING SYSTEMS AND COMPLIANCE ASSURANCE PROGRAMS
Building systems shall meet the requirements set forth below to be evaluated for compliance with the standards, specifications and requirements adopted by the State Administrative Agencies.
Compliance assurance programs shall be approved if they meet the requirements set forth in 780 CMR 110.R3.10. It is the manufacturer's responsibility to execute every aspect of this program. The manufacturer shall continue to be responsible for all corrective actions required and the contractual relationship between the manufacturer and the inspection agency shall not diminish such responsibility. The manufacturer shall cooperate with the inspection agency by providing the inspection agency with all necessary reports, information, documents, records, facilities, equipment, samples and other assistance for assuring compliance. The manufacturer's compliance assurance program shall be submitted to the BBRS in the form of a compliance assurance manual which shall contain complete documentation of all compliance assurance activities of both the manufacturer and the inspection agency. The manual shall be comprehensively indexed, and shall treat the material listed here in detail, as follows.
PART III -APPROVAL OF INSPECTION AGENCIES
An inspection agency seeking approval shall submit a quadruplicate application to the BBRS which shall include the items listed in 780 CMR 110.R3.11.
PART IV -APPEALS
All hearings shall comply with applicable sections of the applicable codes and the Rules and Regulations established for the purpose of appeal.