Phil, I'm a beginner in real estate but I'm an engineer that specializes in protecting buildings from flood and hurricane damage.

I currently work in the oil and gas business as a Chief Engineer(Ships) for 14 years.

So then we hired a structural engineer to come out and do a report on the sunroom/deck.  

It's primarily surprising because most entrepreneurs look at software engineers like they are made out of candy.

In my line of work in engineering, we often have to produce a final drawing which contains work certified by multiple disciplines, such as some parts of it from maintenance of traffic, some by drainage, some from structural engineering, some from roadway, some from right of way, so digitally signing an electronic document actually mean multiple parties signing off their respective "objects" on the drawing, and not responsible for the rest of the stuff, and only that party has digital edit rights to their objects.  

I'm a mechanical engineer by trade but ive always been interested in real estate.

We never heard about this conversation...A month later we get a violation letter from the township stating that our wall was not structurally sound and we needed to get an engineer to evaluate its soundness and if needed, remediate it. 

I'm an Army veteran and civil engineering student at the University of Connecticut interested in buying my first duplex with my fiancee in the Vernon/Manchester area.

Don't over engineer the plan.  

Can anyone give me some ideas for scheduling, and timeframe for getting work done quickly and efficiently.I'm kind of working as a General contractor, hiring Subs and a lot of day-laborers to get work done.For some parts of my Reno, where I need structural or to pull permits I'm getting architects/engineers and contractors.Most work will be done by laborers, flooring, carpenters painters, tile guys etc.Can anyone give tips and incentives for keeping workers on time frame and under budget?