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Engineering consultants translate an architectural design into buildable, code-compliant systems. Structural engineers size foundations, framing, and lateral systems, a significant scope in California where seismic design governs much of the structure. Civil engineers handle grading, drainage, utilities, and street improvements, and their plans are often the first thing a jurisdiction reviews on a development project. Mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, and plumbing engineers design building systems on commercial and larger multi-family projects, while on smaller residential work those scopes are often carried by design-build subcontractors instead. Fire protection engineers design sprinkler and life-safety systems where the occupancy or the local fire authority calls for engineered drawings. For a GC or developer, the practical questions are sequence and coordination. Structural design cannot finish until the geotechnical report is in hand, and MEP design depends on a reasonably frozen architectural plan; bringing engineers in against an unstable design burns fee and schedule. During construction the engineers stay involved, responding to RFIs, reviewing shop drawings and deferred submittals such as trusses, fire sprinklers, and equipment anchorage, and performing structural observation where the jurisdiction requires it. Clarify in the contract how many site visits and revision cycles are included, who responds to plan-check corrections, and expected turnaround on RFIs, because slow engineering responses stall inspections and hold up trades on site. Before contracting, we recommend confirming that an engineer's professional license is current, in California through the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists and in Texas through the state engineering board; both publish free public lookup tools. It also pays to ask for recent projects in the same jurisdiction and building type, since plan-check culture varies city to city and an engineer who knows the local reviewers saves correction cycles.
As soon as the architectural design is far enough along to define the building form, and after the geotechnical report is ordered, since structural design depends on the soils recommendations. On hillside or seismic-retrofit work it is worth a structural consult even earlier, at feasibility, because the structural solution can change whether the project pencils.
Recent approvals in the same jurisdiction, since grading and drainage requirements are enforced very differently city to city, and a clear scope covering grading, drainage, utility, and any required street improvement plans. Confirm who handles plan-check corrections and how many resubmittal cycles the fee covers. We also recommend confirming the license is current using the free public lookup tools California and Texas provide.
Usually yes, because they cover different scopes: the civil engineer handles grading, drainage, utilities, and site improvements, while the structural engineer designs the foundation, framing, and lateral system. On ground-up development the jurisdiction typically expects both sets of drawings in the permit package. Some firms carry both disciplines in-house, which simplifies coordination but does not change the scope split.
2also serveSanta Clara County
Deferred submittals are design packages submitted after the main permit because they depend on a fabricator or specialty sub selected later; common examples are trusses, fire sprinklers, curtain walls, and equipment anchorage. The engineer or architect of record reviews each package for general conformance with the building design before it goes to the building department, and installation cannot proceed until the jurisdiction approves it. Make sure the engineering contract explicitly includes these reviews, since they arrive mid-construction when unscoped fees cause friction.
The engineer of record for each discipline responds to corrections and RFIs touching their drawings, but the contract should say so explicitly and set turnaround expectations. Unassigned correction responsibility is a common source of schedule slip between design and permit issuance, and slow RFI responses during construction hold up inspections.
Often not. On single-family and small residential work, HVAC, electrical, and plumbing subcontractors typically design their own scope to code, and the permit set carries prescriptive notes rather than engineered MEP sheets. Larger multi-family and commercial projects generally need engineered MEP drawings, so confirm what the jurisdiction expects before deciding which consultants to carry.
