Are Electrical Engineering Design Services Needed In Residential?

[Joshua Icenhower]

Hello everyone,

First I want to thank you all for the support and advice that you provide on these forums. I've been reading through pages of posts and have learned a tremendous amount. Looking to be a buy & hold REI in the future.

Now to my question... my friend and I are both (unlicensed) electrical design engineers with extensive experience in hydro generation, industrial scale solar (100MW+), and utility scale substations; and we both will soon be licensed in California as professional engineers. While we are working full time jobs, we want to do additional consulting work on the side for smaller residential projects, (we're being careful to avoid a conflict of interest situation with our employers), where we would provide complete electrical design packages (issued for construction) and work with the local AHJ through the permitting, construction, and inspection process.

I like the idea because I'll be involved in the real estate market segment that I am interested to invest in the future.

I'm trying to visualize who our customers and target market would be. I've read that some AHJs don't require stamped drawings for single story residential homes for example (not sure if that is common or less common). Have you ever in the past needed design engineering services (i.e. an engineer to prepare and stamp drawings) for your projects? Can you think of any potential scenarios where our engineering services would be needed? 

Thanks,