We have an engineer!

As regular readers will know (previous discussion on the topic), I have struggled to find the right structural engineer for my project for a very long time now.  

The process started last March when I chose someone who had a structural issue with 2x4 framing and wanted to put an 8" concrete core inside an ICF.  On the first rear day of activity, he thankfully advised this was not the job for him, something I was in total agreement with.  But this left me in a real pickle, as I initially had planned on starting construction this last spring.  After frantic calls to other engineers showed that no one would be available on short notice, my wife and I discussed and decided that putting the project off a year made the most sense (I did not want to start any later than May 1 in order to get the roof on before the October rains).  And in hindsight, I was no where near ready to start this year anyway and had a lot of technical challenges that still needed to be worked through. So all in all, the delay has been for the best.

Because, I had been 'full tilt' for several months up to the March debacle, I used the decision to delay a year as an excuse to 'take a break'.  The problem is that a break becomes far too comfortable and weeks very soon turn into months.  The last 'break' I had been on took a year!  Fortunately I was a bit more disciplined this time and started the design engine up again in late May.  I received a list of ICF friendly engineers through my good buddy Murray Frank, and started contacting each of them to see if they had the time to fit in my project.  I was finding that between people that did not do ICF anymore, were totally out of business, did not do residential, were not interested, or just did not have the time, my options were limited.

I settled on fellow recommended by people on my first list, who promised a 2-3 week turnaround when I met in his office, but after 6 weeks, not only had we not started, but he had never returned a call or email.  I thought, if we start out this way, how long is it going to take to finish the task and decided to cut my losses before I wasted any more time.

I then contacted some of the people that were previously too busy and some new names I had been given.  I was left with 3 or 4 people willing to take on the work, but based on their own terms.  This generally meant they wanted to take over complete control of the design and move all structure out of Part 9 of the BC Building Code (A prescriptive path to construction) and into Part 4 (An engineered path for all structure).  I just needed assistance on items I could not meet prescriptively like beam sizing and engineered floor and roof trusses, and of course the ICF foundations (and only those because I am a bit higher than the prescriptive code allows for).  The all encompassing engineers wanted to do up pages of detail drawings and in some cases even choose the products I was to use.  And they wanted to charge me $15K+ for the privileged! (my original engineer from March quoted $2500).  This was my design, I had already drawn it up in both 2D AND 3D.  I had already drawn up many of the details I wanted to figure out before building to ensure they worked and were buildable.  I knew what I wanted to build and knew how to build it.

The problem with Part 4 is also that it was going to cost me a lot more money to build. For instance, the Part 9 prescriptive approach requires very little if any manufactured anchors for braced wall panels.  As long as you have the right volume of panels per floor, you can use conventional framing with plywood and everyday nails to build these panels, whereas the Part 4 system often make exclusive use of the Simpson StongTie anchors and rods.  These can add thousands to a typical build.   I had already designed the dwelling to the Part 9 Seismic requirements and did not need any assistance in this regard.

I DID NOT NEED THIS PREMIUM SERVICE and in fact most of this effort would have just been wasted!  I could also tell, that preserving the integrity of my design and my ideas for thermal bridge reduction was going to be difficult with several of the individuals.

So at the end of August I threw a 'Hail Mary' and contacted a name I had received from Durisol (ICF block manufacturer) back in March.  I had originally dismissed the name because they worked out of Guelph Ontario and I thought how is this ever going to work?.  But I was desperate and so contacted Nathan Proper of Tacoma Engineers and was thrilled in his responses.  He advised that he had a BC stamp and that we could arrange any Building Official required inspections with a local engineer at a very reasonable cost.

He further advised "We would be happy to be involved with your house and to help you out by designing the components which need our design. The approach we normally take with these items is to design only the specific items which the owner asks us to --- these are commonly the items which are not covered by Part 9 of the building code.  This is more cost-effective for the owner than checking every little item." 

I thought I had died on gone to heaven, and my neighbour came out to ask why I was running around the front yard hooping and hollering.  The news literally brought me a few tears as I was so relieved after the conversations I had had with others over the last 6 months.  I had hit the jackpot!  There apears to be a dramatic difference in how the design professionals here operate compared to back east (I have often seen this with other construction related items as well).  The best part - they would charge $5K for the basic design package!

Nathan and his team have been responsive, approachable, and co-operative with my goals and ideals.  They approach the tasks in a straightforward, logical, AND practical matter.  They are also sensitive to my budget constraints and have already made suggestions where I can provide input (drawing) instead of utilizing staff in their office.  We only started the real work on  Tuesday, but I feel we have already made great progress.  I came up with a concept for supporting my sun shade assemblies, and a lot of people I am sure would just ignored my suggestions and done their own thing (often at my increased cost).  But they ran with it and advised it should work and that they had done something similar previously.  I can now be a constructive part of the team instead of a bystander, which is what I had always been looking for.

So, it goes to show, trust your gut.  If something does not feel right, it probably isn't and should be fixed or past over. It took a long time, but I KNOW I have found the right person for the project and will be enhanced by their involvement.

And is that not what you are looking for when you are hiring someone to help you build your house?