Most commercial structural engineering firms in Utah are built around the kind of project that pays for itself: a 60-unit apartment building, a school addition, a hospital wing. The $5,000 mezzanine for a small business owner expanding a coffee roastery doesn't make anyone's pipeline meeting. That's the work we exist for.
The kinds of projects we take
- Tenant improvements. Restaurant build-outs, retail re-fits, office TIs. We design new openings, headers, partial-height walls, ceiling-hung equipment, and any structural piece the architect or interior designer needs to make their layout work.
- Change-of-use. Going from warehouse to retail, or retail to restaurant, or office to medical? The IBC use group change usually triggers a structural evaluation. We document existing conditions and write the assessment.
- Mezzanines and storage platforms. Common request from small manufacturers and breweries. We design the frame, connections, footings if needed, and the lateral system.
- Rooftop equipment. New HVAC, condensers, solar arrays — anything that adds weight to a roof needs an engineer to check the existing structure can take it. Quick assessments are a common one-off for us.
- Small-format new construction. Single-story retail, light warehouse, drive-thru pads, accessory commercial structures. Pre-engineered metal building anchor design and foundation drawings.
- Existing-condition evaluations. Pre-purchase due diligence for small commercial buildings. We document framing, identify obvious distress, estimate seismic adequacy, and write a plain-English report.
Why owners and small GCs call us
Big firms can do all of this. They just don't really want to. The minimum fee on a small TI at a multi-state shop is often more than the entire engineering scope warrants, and the project ends up on a junior engineer's desk anyway. We're the alternative: smaller scope, senior person on the project, no junior handoff, no sales engineer between you and the person doing the calcs.
The Utah commercial seismic context
Every commercial project on the Wasatch Front has a seismic story. For new construction, we design with the right Site Class and seismic design category. For existing buildings, we factor the building's vintage into the assessment — a 1960s tilt-up has a very different lateral story than a 2015 metal building, and that matters for any change-of-use or significant TI. We'll tell you straight what the existing structure is good for and what it isn't.
Working with us on a TI
For a typical TI, we'll need: existing drawings if you have them (most owners don't, that's fine), a description of the work, a layout from the architect or designer, and a site visit if the scope touches anything load-bearing. We turn most TI structural packages around in 1–3 weeks depending on size. Plan-check responses are included.
We work across northern Utah — Syracuse, Layton, Farmington, Clearfield, Ogden, and the surrounding cities. Our day job experience includes large public-sector and bridge work, which translates well into how we approach building evaluations and change-of-use analysis.