FAQ

An initial site visit, with one of our engineers, is a comprehensive consultation with a Professional Engineer. To be a licensed P.E., Engineers must complete a four year degree, complete a Fundamentals of Engineering “EIT” Test, train anywhere from 5-8 years under a licensed P.E., before taking the P.E. exam that can take 6-8 hours.

The engineer that comes to your property is fully educated to make structural decisions that keep your family and your business safe, and that is why we charge for an initial site visit. Our fees assure your service in unbiased and we don’t need to upsell unneeded services to “pay the bills” This means we are your independent opinion supporting your needs not ours.

Included in the initial site visit is a visual inspection and verbal consultation regarding your concerns or project needs including feasibility questions. This affordable service has saved our clients many heartaches and countless millions with thousands of consultations. For your site visual inspection, our engineer studies your home’s structure and takes stock in the concerns or project ideas you have.

The verbal consultation is a conversation with our engineer to review what they have found or located as the issue, or review what you are looking to do with your project and again the super valuable conversation it’s overall feasibility.

Each of our engineers have experience in many different areas – including old homes (100+ years), Load Bearing Walls, Retaining walls, foundation movement/settlement, new builds, and much more.

During your call with our Client Relations team, we will find out more about your project and match you with an engineer that has experience and knowledge in that area.

The verbal consultation is a conversation with our engineer to review what they have found or located as the issue, or review what you are looking to do with your project and again the super valuable conversation it’s overall feasibility.

All Level engineers and architects are part of our Level team. This is a collaboration of your local professional engineers and architects that have direct reward for your successful outcome.

This is incredibly common. We strive to provide reasonable design fees (vs. overdesigning to charge you more). When your jurisdiction asks for more clarification, don’t worry we can provide the answer.

When this happens, you should reach out to your engineer or architect. They will walk you through what the next steps are in addressing the questions.

First off, congratulations! This is an exciting journey, and Level is here to support you.

You’ll want to start with a Surveyor and a Site Plan. We can recommend a few companies for you to work with! From there, it’s time to meet with one of our Architects to help design the layout, functionality, and vibes that you want to create. Our Architects can work with the structural team and civil team to do the rest. Then, you’ll need to hire contractors.

Along the way, Level can help you find the best professionals to work with. Give us a call and we can talk you through this process!

We get this question quite a bit! A structural engineer is an engineer that deals with, well, structures. They are studied in materials their strengths and applications to provide structures that perform their intended use and resist nature’s fury!

A civil engineer is the same family as structural however general civil focuses on river and waterways, drainage, site development, traffic, water systems and wastewater system design and maintenance.

Mechanical, Electrical and plumbing engineers (MEP). Think about how you get water to your house, or how in a hotel, water comes into every single room. Well, a Mechanical plumbing engineer makes sure that these systems are comfortable and safe, especially the fire suppression systems. Electrical engineers are pretty focused on you guessed it, safe power systems everywhere!

An Architect is the person who can take your vision or needs for a project from your words to actual reality. As you can imagine, quite a process. This is often the creative side of the built world. Think about how most buildings function. Well look no further, it’s because of the brilliance of the architect.

An engineer whether a Civil, Structural or Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing engineer is the expert talent that assures the details of the architects vision of your project becomes an actual safe functional building.

The home inspector cannot practice engineering judgment by regulation. Decision-making regarding structural stability must be done by a structural engineer.

Our engineers are licensed to perform both structural and civil inspections for commercial and residential properties, including: Special inspections, forensic inspections, concrete reinforcement, structural steel, welding, real estate inspections / property analysis, and foundation inspections.

Typically, the city/county codes require extensive information to be included within the plans, such as design specs, wind/snow load information, etc. Due to the requirements needed for these, engineers must often submit their own stamped engineered plans.

First we would schedule an initial site visit for the engineer to come out and inspect the wall. While onsite they will have a verbal consultation going over their findings and recommendations. If the engineer determines that the wall is in fact load bearing, the next step would be for the engineer to create the design plans in order for a contractor to remove the wall.

It’s best for the engineer to look over existing documents or perform a site visit in order to gather the necessary information to provide an accurate estimate.

The engineer that is assigned to your project would be happy to provide you with recommendations for companies or contractors, who can come in and implement the plans created.

We always recommend that the engineer performs a site visit because pictures don’t always capture the full detail and there may be things missing that the homeowner isn’t aware of that could present possible structural concerns.

Depending on the complexity of the project and the engineer’s workload the turnaround is typically 4-5 weeks from the time of the initial appointment.

This can vary depending on the project’s needs. Typically whoever pulls the permit for a home project becomes the GC. If we are hired for the construction work, we will pull the necessary permits for the project. If we are just in for engineering work we won’t typically be involved with the permitting process. However, our engineering team will be happy to make recommendations on how to best move forward after their consultation/plans are completed.