Questions to ask a structural engineer

[Chris Wolf]

I am working on my first property, which is a complete gut job. The house was purchased with some known structural issues. I am going to contact a structural engineer and was curious about the best questions to ask them being this is the first time working with one. I have  worked in commercial concrete for over 10 years so I have a pretty good general knowledge about the construction industry and have also done a decent amount of rehab work. I am 30 minutes north of Cincinnati, Ohio so if anybody has a good engineer they have used in the past they could recommend that would be awesome!  

[Brian Dance]

@Chris Wolf, I'm a structural engineer in the Atlanta, GA area. I would ask the potential Ohio engineer:

1. Is he/she licensed? 2. Do they have experience with [insert known issue here] and if so how much experience? 3. What is their fee structure? (usually this will be hourly, around $100-$200/hour), although some engineers have a minimum fee. 4. Can they provide you with construction details to give to a contractor to get the issue repaired and will they stamp the plans/letter/details? 5. Depending on how large of a fix it is, you may want them to come and review the work after the contractor is finished and provide you with a stamped letter stating what they observed meets the design intent. You can also write this into your contract with your contractor, that the Engineer must sign off on his work before Contractor receives final payment.

I don't know any engineers in the Ohio area personally, but here's a good website you can use to find someone recommended by the Structural Engineer's Association of Ohio. They have a page specifically for engineers that do residential work. https://seaoo.org/Looking_for_... 

Hope this helps and Good luck!