Structural Engineering Services
Structural engineer services for permits: beams, framing, foundations and lateral design, engineered, calculated and sealed by a Professional Engineer licensed in your state. Fixed fee from $599, typically 48 to 72 hours.
- Licensed PE in your state
- One fixed fee in writing
- Revisions until approved
- Quote usually within the hour
Prefer to talk?(737) 409-9610contact@residentialpe.com
- From $599
- One fixed fee, quoted before work starts
- 48 to 72 hours
- Typical turnaround for simple scopes
- Sealed for your state
- By an engineer licensed where you build
- Revisions included
- Until your permit is approved
Our structural engineering services give you sealed drawings and calculations that a plan reviewer can approve the first time. Structural is where most residential permits get held up: the reviewer wants proof that the beam carries the load, that every connection transfers it, and that an engineer licensed in that state is willing to seal the sheet. We produce that set, online, for a fixed fee.
Structural engineering services we provide
- Beams, headers and posts, including the beam that replaces a load bearing wall, sized in wood, LVL, glulam or steel
- Floor and roof framing: joists, rafters, trusses, girders, ridge beams and full framing plans
- Foundations: footings, stem walls, slabs on grade, piers, grade beams and underpinning
- Lateral design: shear walls, hold-downs, straps and bracing for wind and seismic loads
- Additions and second stories, including a check on whether the existing structure and foundation can carry the new load
- Repairs: settlement, cracked foundations, rot, fire damage, termite damage and failed framing
- Decks, balconies, porches and retaining walls
- Solar and equipment letters confirming a roof can carry new panels or a rooftop unit
What you receive
- Sealed and signed structural drawings at the sheet size your jurisdiction accepts
- Framing plans, foundation plans, sections and the connection details reviewers ask for
- A structural calculation package: load paths, member sizing, connection design and lateral analysis
- General notes, design criteria and the code edition the design follows, printed on the sheet
- A signed letter where the permit calls for one: feasibility, structural observation or an as-built opinion
- Responses to plan review comments, and revisions, until you are approved
Not sure what your permit needs?Send what you have. An engineer replies with scope and a fixed price, usually within the hour.
Get a free quoteChat with an engineerHow the design loads are set
Drawings that ignore local loads get rejected. We design to the code edition and the load criteria actually enforced at your address. For most homes that means the International Residential Code as adopted by your state, with local amendments, and loads taken from ASCE 7 through the ASCE Hazard Tool:
- Snow: ground snow load and drift at roof steps and valleys, which governs framing across the northern states and mountain towns
- Wind: design wind speed, exposure category and uplift at coastal and open sites, including hurricane-prone regions
- Seismic: seismic design category, shear wall layout and hold-down forces in the western states and other high-hazard zones
- Frost and soil: footing depth below the local frost line, and soil bearing from your geotechnical report where one exists, or presumptive values the code allows where it does not
The design criteria are printed on the drawings, so the reviewer can check them without calling anyone. That one habit removes a large share of plan review comments.
When you need a structural engineer for a permit
Simple houses can often be built from the prescriptive tables in the residential code. You usually need engineered design, and a sealed set, when the project goes beyond those tables. Common triggers:
- Removing or shortening a load bearing wall, or cutting a large new opening
- Spans, point loads or cantilevers the span tables do not cover
- Adding a story, a heavy roof finish, solar panels or rooftop equipment
- Sloped sites, poor soils, high wind, heavy snow or a high seismic design category
- Foundation cracks, settlement or damage that has to be repaired and documented
- The building department simply asks for it on the plan review comment sheet
If you are not sure, read when a structural engineer is required for a house, or send us the project and we will tell you plainly whether engineering is needed before you pay anything.
How our structural engineering services work
- Send what you have. Drawings, a survey, photos or a hand sketch with dimensions, plus the city or county and any comments the reviewer has already sent.
- Get a fixed quote. A licensed engineer confirms the scope, the price and a delivery date in writing, usually within the hour.
- Design and calculations. We model the loads, size the members and connections, and draw the sheets your jurisdiction expects.
- Seal and deliver. You receive a sealed PDF set and calculation package, ready to upload to the permit portal or print for the counter.
- Permit support. If the reviewer returns comments, we answer them and revise the set at no extra charge until you are approved.
Turnaround and price
Engineered plans with a PE stamp start at $599, quoted as one fixed fee before work begins. Simple scopes, such as a single beam, a deck or one new opening, are usually back in 48 to 72 hours. Full additions and whole-house framing sets are scheduled with a firm delivery date you get in writing. Already have drawings and only need them checked and sealed? Our review and stamp service starts at $249. See all tiers on the pricing page.
Who we work with
Homeowners taking a project to the counter themselves, contractors and remodelers who need a set this week, designers and architects who need a structural engineer of record, and solar and deck installers who need repeatable, stampable details. If you run volume, see working with us as a contractor. Projects that also change the site or the building systems can be coordinated with our civil engineering and MEP engineering teams under one fee.
How a structural engineer sizes beams, joists and posts
Every structural member on a permit set is chosen for two things: strength and stiffness. Strength means the member can carry the load without breaking or crushing. Stiffness means it does not sag or bounce enough to crack drywall, pop tile or make a floor feel soft. For most residential work the stiffness check governs, which is why a beam that looks big enough on paper still fails review when the deflection calculation is missing.
The engineer starts with the loads that reach the member: the weight of the materials themselves (dead load), the people and furniture the code assumes (live load), snow on the roof where you build, and any point loads from posts or girders above. Those loads are traced down through the building until they reach the foundation. A header over a new opening, for example, often carries a roof, a ceiling and a floor, and the posts at each end need a footing that can take that concentrated load into the soil.
- Dimensional lumber is the first choice for short spans and light loads, because it is cheap and every framer knows it.
- Engineered lumber such as LVL, PSL and glulam handles longer spans and heavier loads with less depth, and its published values make the calculation predictable.
- Steel beams appear when ceiling height matters, the span is long, or a wall removal leaves a large load with nowhere else to go.
- Connections are designed too: hangers, bearing length, bolts and straps. Many failed inspections are about the connection, not the beam.
Foundations, footings and soil
A foundation design starts with what the ground can carry. Where no soil report exists, the residential code allows presumptive bearing values for common soils, and many small projects are designed that way. Expansive clay, fill, high groundwater, slopes and frost depth change the answer. On clay that shrinks and swells, a slab or footing that would be fine elsewhere can crack and heave, so the engineer may call for deeper footings, piers, moisture barriers or a post-tensioned slab.
New footings for additions are tied to the existing house so the two parts move together, or deliberately separated so they can move independently. Underpinning and pier repairs are designed from the measured settlement and the load on the wall. In every case the drawings show footing sizes, depths, reinforcement and the concrete strength the inspector will check before the pour.
Lateral design: wind, seismic and braced walls
Gravity loads push down, but wind and earthquakes push sideways. A house resists them with braced wall panels, shear walls, hold-downs and a roof and floor that act as diaphragms to collect the force and deliver it to the walls. The residential code gives prescriptive bracing rules for ordinary houses, and many permit reviews simply check that the required length of bracing is present on each wall line.
Engineering is needed when a project goes beyond those rules: large openings that remove bracing, open-concept plans, tall walls, homes in high-wind or high-seismic zones, steep sites and unusual shapes. The engineer then calculates the forces for your exact location and designs shear walls, nailing, hold-downs and anchor bolts to match. Coastal and hurricane areas add uplift connections from the roof all the way to the foundation.
What a plan reviewer looks for in structural drawings
Plan reviewers read structural sheets with a checklist in mind. They want to see the code edition and design loads stated on the drawings, every new member sized and labelled, a clear load path from roof to foundation, connection details for anything that is not standard, and calculations that match what is drawn. Missing any of these is the most common reason a submission comes back with comments.
- Design criteria: code edition, roof snow, wind speed and exposure, seismic design category, soil bearing
- Framing plans for each level with member sizes, spacing and direction
- Foundation plan with footing schedule and reinforcement
- Details for beams, posts, hold-downs, ledgers and any new connection to existing framing
- A sealed calculation package that a reviewer can follow
Because our engineers prepare drawings for permit submission every week, the sheets are organized the way reviewers expect. That saves review cycles, and if a reviewer still has a question, the engineer who designed the work writes the response and revises the drawings at no extra charge.
Working with an existing house
Most residential structural work is a change to a building that already stands. That means the engineer has to understand what is there before designing what is new. Photos, measurements, the original plans if you have them, and a look into the attic or crawlspace tell the engineer which walls carry load, how the roof is framed, what the existing beams are and how the house was built.
When information is missing, the design takes the conservative path or the drawings include a field verification note, for example asking the contractor to confirm a joist size before ordering material. Good drawings make those assumptions visible, so nobody is surprised once the drywall comes off. If something unexpected appears during construction, such as rot, an undersized header or a notched joist, the same engineer reviews photos and issues a revised detail or a short letter for the inspector.
- Older homes often have smaller lumber with full dimensions and different species, which changes the capacity
- Previous renovations sometimes removed bearing walls without a proper beam, so a new project has to fix the old shortcut too
- Adding a second story checks the existing foundation and the first floor walls for the new load
- Attaching a deck, porch or addition designs the connection to the existing rim board or foundation
The goal is drawings that a contractor can build from without guessing, and that an inspector can sign off without a second visit. That is what the PE seal stands for: an engineer who is licensed in your state has checked the design and takes responsibility for it.
Sample sheets from recent permit sets
References: ICC building codes · NCEES state licensing boards
Structural engineer services: common questions
Can you work from a hand sketch?
Yes. Dimensions, photos and a description of what you want to build are enough to start. We produce the drawing.
Do you visit the site?
The service is fully online. Photographs, dimensions and existing drawings carry the information an engineer needs for most residential work, which is what keeps the fee and the timeline down. Where a physical inspection is genuinely required, we will tell you and help you arrange it locally.
Do structural engineering services include the calculations?
Yes. Every engineered set comes with a calculation package showing loads, member sizes and connections, because most building departments ask for it and it makes the design defensible at review.
Can you take over a project another engineer started?
Yes. We review what exists, tell you what is usable, and seal our own work.
Do you handle commercial work?
Light commercial and mixed-use, yes. Send the scope and we will say plainly whether it is a fit.
Can you trust an online engineering service? Here is how to check us.
Everything below can be verified before you pay anything. Ask us about any of it on chat.
Check the engineer’s license yourself
Every set is sealed by a Professional Engineer licensed in the state where you build. The name and license number on the seal can be looked up on your state licensing board’s website.
Know the price before anything starts
You get the scope, one fixed fee and the delivery date in writing. No hourly billing and no surprise invoices.
Covered until your permit is approved
If plan review sends comments, the engineer answers them and revises the drawings at no extra charge.
Talk to the team directly
Live chat, phone or email, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You reach the people working on your project, not a call center.
Your plans and payments stay private
Your files are used only for your project. Payments go through PCI-DSS compliant processors, so card details never reach our servers.
A registered US company
Residential PE is operated by Site Planers LLC, a US-registered company. Our terms and privacy policy are published in full.
Or reach us directly:(737) 409-9610contact@residentialpe.com
Get a fixed price for your structural drawings.
Send plans, photos, a survey or a sketch. A licensed engineer replies with scope, price and a delivery date, usually within the hour, seven days a week.
Request your free quote
- Free quote, no obligation
- One fixed fee in writing before any work starts
- Your drawings stay confidential
Other engineering we handle for permits
Review and PE stamp
Already have drawings? An engineer checks them to code and seals them.
MEP engineering
HVAC, electrical and plumbing plans with load calculations.
Civil and site engineering
Grading, drainage, stormwater and site plans to local standards.
Load bearing wall removal
Beam, post and footing design with the letter your inspector wants.
Site plans for permits
Scaled plot plans with setbacks, coverage and easements.
Retaining wall engineering
Wall design with stability calculations and drainage details.