Do You Need A Structural Engineer?

“Recommend further evaluation by a Structural Engineer…” Does this sound like good advice to you? Hire an engineer to evaluate all foundation or masonry cracks? It doesn’t sound like good advice to me in many cases. Yet, that’s the advice given by many home inspectors who are paranoid or perhaps don’t really know what they are looking at. I get it. We (inspectors) are hugely concerned about liability and thus inspectors may call out that a crack(s) needs engineering evaluation no matter the size or configuration of the crack as a means of CYA. I’m of the opinion that making recommendations for structural engineers over every little crack is not in the best interest of my clients. Namely, it’s an unnecessary and big expense. I’ve been hired numerous times to provide my professional opinion on structural concerns where both a home inspector and structural engineer made some bad calls. In one particular case, the home inspector did not even get in the crawl space, and similarly the engineer sent an apprentice who got halfway in the crawl space and only snapped photos. The engineering apprentice did not fully crawl the space and exam the components. I am guessing he was afraid of spiders. We at Above All Else are unique in having both hands on experience in structural repairs as well as having a Bachelor of Science in a Construction related engineering degree. Plus some. We know what we are looking at and know what the correct call should be in a report.