Plans describe what was intended. RECORD DRAWINGS describe what was built, and 28 TAC § 34.619 requires them. They must show details in accordance with applicable codes and standards, INCLUDING THE SEQUENCE OF OPERATION — what the system is supposed to do when a device activates — and they must be provided to the building owner or the owner’s representative. They also have to comply with the same signature and identification requirements the submitted plans do, which § 8.1 set out — so record drawings carry the licensee’s number and the registered firm’s details exactly as the plans did.

The duty does not end when the drawings are handed over. Under the same rule, SUBSEQUENT MODIFICATIONS, ADDITIONS, OR ALTERATIONS must be legibly noted on the record drawings and provided to the owner or the owner’s representative. The rule states that in the passive and names nobody, so who owes the note is not settled on its face — what is settled is that the notes are required and that they have to reach the owner. Read alongside Chapter 4, it is the documentary half of the same rule: a modification to an existing system is planning, and the plan it produces belongs on the record drawings the owner already holds.

Two smaller provisions close out the paperwork, and one of them is a genuine surprise. FIRE ALARM PLANS, MANUALS, AND DOCUMENTS SHALL NOT BE STORED INSIDE FIRE ALARM PANELS. And for one- or two-family residences the rule takes a different approach entirely: scale or non-scale drawings showing the locations of detection devices, notification devices and the control panel must be MAINTAINED BY THE INSTALLING REGISTERED FIRM for not less than one year after completion of the installation, carrying the firm’s name, phone number, completion date and certificate of registration number, and the name and signature of the licensed planner or Texas registered professional engineer. Electronically archived drawings that are reproducible are acceptable, and the drawings must be made available to the residential property owner and the local AHJ on request. So on a house the firm keeps the drawing and produces it when asked; on everything else the owner is given it.