Structural Engineering
From a single beam over a kitchen opening to a full framing package for a plaza, our licensed Professional Engineer designs, calculates and stamps the structure in the same office that draws the permit set.
What’s included
Structure is the sheet the permit examiner reads most carefully. Ours is designed by the engineer who visited the site, drawn so a framer or a fabricator can build from it, and stamped in-house.
Custom homes & additions
Beams, joists, posts and roof framing sized for the spans and loads of the building, balancing strength, efficiency and the architecture.
Foundations & slabs
Footings, foundation walls, underpinning and slabs designed for the soil and the loads above, for long-term performance.
Commercial & industrial
Steel framing for commercial units and industrial buildings, with the beams, columns, joists and connections detailed for fabrication.
Inspections & letters
Evaluation of what is already built: structural inspections, responses to city letters, code compliance reviews and special solutions for hard sites.
The package
Find your situation below. If it’s there, this is the service, and the card underneath is everything you get from our one office.
08 common situations
07
items in your package, all from one P.Eng and BCIN team.
Drawn & stamped in-house
How it runs
Four steps from a site visit to a stamped set. The engineer who sees the framing is the one who signs the drawings.
We look at what carries what: framing direction, bearing walls, foundation condition and anything the last renovation hid. Photos and measurements go into the file.
Dead, live, snow and wind loads are worked out for the building and the site, and the load path is traced from the roof to the footings.
Members and connections are sized, detailed and drawn so a framer or a steel fabricator can build from them without guessing, then stamped by our P.Eng.
We answer the examiner’s structural comments at no extra charge and, where the permit requires general review, inspect at the stages the city sets and issue the field reports.
Case files
Open any file for the scope, the disciplines involved, what we delivered and what the owner came away with.
A compact two-storey suite in a Toronto backyard. Architectural and structural drawings, zoning review and a framing package that makes every square foot count.
Delivered
New living space on a lot the owners already had.
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Structural walls came out and rooms were added to open the plan. Beam and column design, permit drawings and renovation coordination through to final inspection.
Delivered
An open layout where the load-bearing walls used to be.
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A code-compliant second unit with its own entrance, fire separations between the units, HVAC design and the full permit package.
Delivered
A legal second unit that brings in rent and adds property value.
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A new build taken from the client’s sketch to occupancy, with the architectural, structural and mechanical design done by one team.
Delivered
Built to the client’s own plan, with one team answering for every discipline.
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A two-storey garden suite laid out to get the most usable space from the footprint, designed and permitted as a rentable unit.
Delivered
Rental income and a higher property value.
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A dental office converted into a supermarket. Interior renovation, a new plumbing system and fire separations upgraded to the Ontario Fire Code.
Delivered
A dental office reopened as a supermarket, compliant with the Ontario Fire Code.
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A custom covered porch that turns the front of the house into usable outdoor space. Addition design and structural drawings for the permit.
Delivered
More usable outdoor space and added home value.
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Site grading to manage drainage and prepare the land for a new driveway, drawn as a grading plan for the site alteration permit.
Delivered
Drainage handled and the land ready for a new driveway.
Start a project like thisPhoto plates
Additions, basements, kitchens, new builds and commercial fit-outs. Drag a row to scrub through it, or open any photo full size.Tap any photo to see it full size.
21 platesResidential, commercial & new build
The drawing set
Framing schedules, wall assemblies, dimensions and a city review stamp, as issued. Client title blocks are trimmed off to protect the people we drew them for.
Drawing set
Sheets in this set
Sheet title
Existing basement plan
The existing house recorded before any design: beams, joists and bearing walls.
Drawing no.
2 of 5
Service area
From the office we cover the whole GTA, north to Barrie and Orillia, east to Peterborough and Cobourg, west to Kitchener and Brantford, and down through Niagara.
46 across 8 regions
York Region
Toronto & Peel
Halton
Durham
Simcoe & Dufferin
Waterloo, Wellington & Brant
Hamilton, Niagara & Haldimand
Kawarthas & Northumberland
Past the 90-minute line
We've also completed projects in London and Strathroy. Farther out than that? Call (416) 990-9179 and ask.
Permits filed with municipalities including
Before you call
Anything we haven’t answered here, we’ll answer on a call. The first consultation is free.
(416) 990-9179Under Ontario’s Building Code Act, a building permit is not issued if the Professional Engineers Act or the Architects Act requires the work to be designed by an engineer or architect and it was not. Whether that applies to your beam, steel, underpinning or addition depends on the loads, the spans and what the new work bears on. We check it on the first call, from your photos and the address.
Usually. The depth of the new footings, the soil and how close the neighbouring footings sit decide whether the city requires an engineered design and an engineer on site during the dig. A section dug out of order can crack your house or the one next door. We design underpinning for basement lowering across the GTA and carry out those site reviews ourselves.
It depends on how far the floor drops, how much of the foundation wall is underpinned, the soil and groundwater the dig runs into, and how close the neighbouring foundation sits, which can change how the sections are sequenced. The permit, the drawings and any engineer’s site reviews during the dig belong in the budget too. We quote the engineering after a free consultation, once we have seen the basement on site or in photos.
If the permit includes engineered structure, it usually will. It is a form the engineer signs with the application. By signing, the engineer commits to inspect the structural work at stages the permit sets, such as before footings are poured or once framing is up, and to issue a field report the city can ask for. We include those visits in the quote where the permit calls for them, so nothing new turns up at inspection time.
No. A P.Eng stamp means the engineer has designed or fully reviewed the work and takes responsibility for it. We can review a contractor’s proposal, run the calculations and produce stamped drawings from it, but we will not stamp work we have not checked.
That depends on scope. A site visit and a short letter on one issue sits at the small end, and so does a beam for a single wall removal. A full framing set for a custom home or a steel-framed plaza is a large package, and a written assessment or general review during construction adds to any of them. We quote after a free consultation and, where it is needed, a site visit.
Yes. We inspect the structure of the house you plan to buy and give you a written report to weigh before you commit to the purchase. Our Home Inspection service covers the full pre-purchase review.
Yes. The drawings carry every member, connection and footing, and we answer the framer’s questions when the work opens up something the site visit could not see. If you would rather keep design and construction with one team, we also build.
Searched & answered
Short answers to the structural engineering questions people search most, and the broader topics they lead to.
Not covered here? Book a free consultationUnderpinning deepens an existing foundation by building new footings beneath the old ones, one short section at a time, so the house stays supported throughout. It is the usual way to lower a basement for more headroom, and it is also used to repair a foundation that has settled. Fine Engineering designs the sequence and the new footings, then reviews the stages the permit calls for on site.
A structural engineer works out how a building carries its loads from the roof down to the footings, then sizes the beams, columns, joists and foundations to carry them safely. On a house that usually means wall removals, additions, underpinning, or a look at cracks and sagging floors. At Fine Engineering the P.Eng who designs the structure also stamps the drawings.
Once a complete application is in, Ontario’s Building Code gives the municipality 10 business days to issue a house permit or refuse it with reasons. Larger and more complex buildings get a longer period. The count only starts when nothing is missing, so an absent sheet or an unresolved zoning issue holds it back. Fine Engineering checks zoning and code before anything is submitted.
The application form, the drawings the Building Code calls for, and every other approval the project depends on. Zoning counts as applicable law, so a needed minor variance has to be granted before the permit can be issued, and a lot in a conservation authority’s regulated area may need that authority’s permit first. Fine Engineering assembles the whole package, with the designer’s registration details on the drawings.
Most often because the plans do not show that the work meets the Building Code or applicable law, such as the zoning by-law. A permit is also withheld when the law requires an engineer’s or architect’s design and the drawings lack one, or when the builder of a new home is unlicensed. The refusal must state its reasons, and Fine Engineering revises the set to answer each one.
Stop work and start on the drawings. A stop-work order usually means construction began without a permit or departed from the approved plans. Getting out of it takes a permit application that shows what was built and what is proposed, then whatever inspections the city asks for. Fine Engineering prepares those drawings and replies to the city’s letters.
Good to know
Because underpinning alters an existing foundation, Ontario’s Building Code Act treats it as construction. The Act’s definition takes in the material alteration or repair of an existing building, not only new work, so the municipality has to issue a building permit before the first section is dug.
The structural drawings fix the order the sections are dug and poured, the depth of the new footings, and how the work steps around a neighbouring foundation where one is close. Where the permit calls for general review, the engineer who designed the underpinning comes back to site at the stages it sets.
A stamped structural set is drawn to match the architectural plans. It has framing and foundation plans, sections through the openings and footings, connection details, and schedules for the beams, columns and connections. The calculations behind each member stay on file for the examiner, and every sheet carries the seal and signature of the engineer who designed it.
Our engineer is licensed with Professional Engineers Ontario and BCIN-qualified in Small Buildings, Structural and HVAC, so the structural sheets and the rest of the permit set come out of one office.
A load-bearing wall carries the floor or roof above it, so taking one out is a structural alteration and needs a building permit. The permit set shows the existing and proposed floor plans, the framing above the opening, the beam that replaces the wall and a section through the opening.
If another designer is drawing the renovation, we work from their plans and add the stamped structural sheet. If we draw the whole set, the beam goes onto the same plans as the new layout.
A P.Eng structural inspection answers a narrow question: whether the foundation, the framing and the load path are doing their job, and what repair is needed if they are not. The written report sets out what we saw, what it means for the structure and what the repair involves, so a contractor can price the work from it.
A crack or a sagging floor in a newer house is worth an engineer’s look while the new-home warranty runs, since that warranty covers major structural defects. A house built on an existing foundation may fall outside that cover, so on a rebuild we assess the old footings and walls first.
Contact us
Send us photos and the address and we’ll tell you whether it needs an engineer, on a free first call.
First consultation free(416) 990-9179