What is the difference between a PE and a Qualified Person (QP)?
A PE is a professional registration under the Professional Engineers Act. A Qualified Person is a role under the Building Control Act: a registered architect or PE with a practising certificate in force who is appointed to prepare the plans or supervise the building works. A PE becomes a QP when appointed to that role on a specific project, and then carries statutory duties, including reporting known contraventions to the Commissioner of Building Control.
From the RRD Field Guide, checked against the sources cited in PE Endorsement in Singapore: What It Legally Means and Why Engineer Independence Matters. General information, not advice for your project.
The fuller picture
A PE endorsement is a statutory signature: only a Professional Engineer registered with the PEB and holding a practising certificate in force may sign plans or certificates that the law requires a PE to sign, and documents signed otherwise are invalid. The endorsing PE owes duties to the client, the regulator and the public, which is why owners are better served appointing and paying the engineer directly.
More questions on this topic
- What does it mean when drawings are 'PE-endorsed'?
- How do I check that an engineer is a real, practising PE?
- Is it illegal for a contractor to arrange the PE for my works?
- Can the same PE design and supervise my works?
- Can a PE give a contractor a commission for referring work?
- Who does the PE owe duties to if the contractor pays the fee?
- What happens if my QP stops acting halfway through the works?