How to find a Structural Engineer

Well actually, you just found one. A really good one as it turns out. However I’ll tell you how to find a structural engineer in case we’re not perfect for you.

How to find a structural engineer

  • Ask your friends for a recommendation.
  • Ask your building designer or architect for a recommendation
  • Find a structural engineer on Google.
  • Find a a structural engineer on Facebook.
  • Ask for a referral from the association that registers structural engineers.
  • Ask another structural engineer for a recommendation.

Ask Your Friends for a Recommendation

Structural engineering is such a personal service.

Yes. Really.

Yes, structural engineers work with building plans and architects and design buildings to be safe, strong and economical.

Apart from all that, structural engineers have to be easy to work with, easy to understand, easy to contact and really good at communicating complex ideas to your team.

Have you got any easy way to tell all this simply by talking to an engineer? No way.

So a recommendation from a friend who has recently engaged and used a structural engineer and found the engineer to be really good goes a long way. A long way.

So my first recommendation for finding a structural engineer is to ask a friend who has recently used a great structural engineer. Find that engineer. Get a quote. Maybe they’ll be perfect for you too.

So my first recommendation for finding a structural engineer is to ask a friend who has recently hired a great structural engineer. Find that engineer. Get a quote. Maybe they’ll be perfect for you too.

Ask your building designer or architect for a recommendation

let’s face it, building designers and architects work with structural engineers regularly and it makes sense that if you trust your BD or A then you may as well trust their recommendation for a structural engineer.

So ask for a recommendation or two. Contact both engineers and speak to both yourself. get a quote from both and compare more than price. What is missing? What is different? Which engineer takes the time to understand your project and your requirements?

Find a structural engineer on Google

Google does a great job of searching the web for solutions to people’s problems. they also do a great job of gathering reviews of local businesses and making them easy to contact and talk to.

So Google has already done the hard work of finding a structural engineer in your area.

But there’s a catch.

Not every structural engineer is perfect for every job and, at the end of the day, Google is relying on the engineer’s website for an idea of what type of jobs a structural engineer can do.

Sadly, structural engineer’s websites just list every type of structural engineering job and assure you they can do it all.

Not exactly true. How can it be?

So here’s some tips for finding a structural engineer for your type of job:

Find a a structural engineer on Facebook

Not the first place you would think to look for a structural engineer, Facebook is more of a place to check that your proposed structural engineer is human, young enough to be up with social media and savvy enough to show off some great project success.

Yes, a really old structural engineer can do your job too. That’s fine. They probably won’t be on Facebook and that doesn’t really matter too much.

However it takes a structural engineer that is eager enough to be on Facebook to want to do well, to use modern technology and techniques to do a great job and simply to care enough to stay up to date.

In Facebook, find the search window at the top of your Facebook page, and enter your city and the type of structural engineering business you would like to find.

For example, enter “Residential structural engineer Brisbane”

Best of luck!

Ask for a referral from the association that registers structural engineers

In Queensland, that would be the Board of Professional Engineers Queensland. Head to their Search Register page to find a structural or civil engineer (older structural engineers like Matt Cornell are registered as civil engineers rather than structural engineers because the structural type didn’t exist on the website back when Matt was registered).

In each state or country there is most probably a similar register that you can access.

being registered is a prerequisite for an engineer being able to do engineering work in your area but not necessarily that they can be engaged by you. Some registered engineers work for private companies and are not consulting engineers. Some contact details are private numbers.

Really, finding a structural engineer from the association that registers engineers is not my preferred way of finding an engineer. it IS a great way to ensure the engineer that you find is registered and is allowed to practice in your area and that’s what we use it for nearly every day (cyber-stalking other engineers is also fun).

Ask another structural engineer for a recommendation

We do this a lot. When we can’t help or a job is outside of our geographic area, more than likely we’ll try to recommend someone that can help you.

This is because we know what kind of engineer you need and what type of experience that engineer should have. As I said, websites can be deceiving and sometimes it is hard to find a suitable structural engineer in your area.

We try to help where we can in this regard (if we can). Engineer that are in your local area might be able to suggest an engineer suitable for your job.

Again, not my preferred way of finding an engineer but it’s worth a shot if you really are struggling.

Finding a Structural Engineer in Your Area

So we’ve given you a few ideas on how to find a structural engineer in your area for your next project. I hope this helps.