Bernalillo County, NM Building Safety: Childcare Center Rules (2026)

Section 105.3 of the Uniform Administrative Code lets the certified building official (CBO) accept unsealed plans for small commercial buildings in most cases: "Non-residential buildings, or additions, having a total occupant load of ten or less and two stories or less in height" are ordinarily exempt from the architect/engineer sealing requirement that otherwise applies to every use listed in Chapter 3 of the International Building Code. The same sentence carves day cares back out of that exemption: "Does not include E (Educational, day care), H (Hazardous) or I (Institutional) occupancies, all of which must be certified by an architect and/or engineer(s) licensed to practice in the State of New Mexico."

That means any building housing a licensed day care or preschool, an IBC Group E occupancy, needs construction documents prepared and sealed by a registered New Mexico architect or engineer before Planning and Development Services will review the permit, regardless of the center's size or number of stories. The other four exceptions in section 105.3, single-family homes up to two stories, small wood-frame multifamily buildings of four units or fewer, appurtenant garages, and minor alterations that create no new hazard or occupancy change, remain available to ordinary residential and light commercial projects, but none of them can be used to avoid sealed plans for a day care conversion or new build. Section 105.1 still requires the underlying building permit itself for any day care structure being erected, altered, or converted, and section 107.1.1 requires the sealed plans to show occupant load, construction type, and fire-resistive design consistent with Group E use. The rule tracks the same heightened scrutiny the county applies to hospital and jail-type Group I occupancies, reflecting that day care buildings hold young children who cannot self-evacuate as quickly as adults in most other small commercial spaces.