When I order my timbers to build my home I understand thay need to be "grade stamped". I'm sure this is a safety issue about the strength of the wood. When are they graded? By who? What minimum do I need. Is it a part of the house inspection process by the building inspector? Is each timber stamped with a mark, or is it on the purchase invoice? Thanx, Mike

Mike,
Most grading is done by professionals after the timbers are cut roughly to size. Each region of the country has slightly different grading guidelines. Each permit authority has different rules. The grade you need should be specified by your designer/architect and further accepted by a professional engineer in accordance with the regional standards and your permit authority. This precludes the inspectors telling you to take it down because it is not built to the appropriate standard required in your area.
All of these are set to insure you don't build a house of cards.
good luck,
deralte

Mike:
If your building inspector tells you they need to be grade stamped then they do.
If anyone else tells you they do, then your building inspector has the last word. He may tell you then need to he may not. It decision is his and his alone. It depends on what mill you get them from and if he knows the mill, and if he knows that the mill produces sound timbers for timber framing.
Being in NH you fall under the NELMA area of control. They are the lumberman's association for our area.
When you inquire about purchasing your timbers from a mill ask them if they are a member of NELMA if they are then they are/can be allowed to grade stamp your timbers. If they have trained inspectors on staff.
If the mill you choose doesn't belong to NELMA you can hire a traveling grader from NELMA to come to your site or your mill's site and grade the timbers there.
They will stamp each timber as each one will be inspected on all four sides and both ends.
Usually timbers are stamped by mill staff just after they have been milled.

You could approach your building inspector and ask him. But you need to ask him correctly to not get a "conditioned" response.
If you ask him: "Do my timbers need to be grade stamped?" His conditioned response will be "Of course they do!". But if you tell him of the mill you intend to buy your timber from, and ask him if these will be alright to use, he may say that they need to be grade stamped. He may not. It all depends on who this mill is and if he has had any experience with them before.
Who is telling you to have them stamped?

Jim Rogers

Here's my experience, but bear in mind that it's specific to Columbia county, Oregon.

When building my frame, there were three options that I could take:

1. Each peice had to be grade stamped.
2. The entire lumber order needed a "certificate of grade"
3. Or, once the structure was up, I could hire a certificed grader to come out and look at the structure in place.

The planer mills that I talked to offered grade stamping for free, however, the grade stamp may be left somewhere unsightly where extra sanding my be require to remove it.

I had first thought about hiring a grader, but what if a peice was graded lower (after the fact?) Plus, the fee was about 4x what I ended up doing, which was....

Paying a fee to get a certificate of grade when the timbers were at the planer mill. This provides documentation that can be used to show that the wood you're using is at the right specification. In my case I was fortunate that everything graded at Structural Select and #1.

FWIW...