Nadir Mahar, a structural engineer and founder of MAHAR SOLUTION, wrote and contributed to this article on WebsiteForEngineers.com.
Every week, structural engineers open requests that run to three or four lines. They attach a floor plan, sometimes just a sketch, and ask two questions. How much, and how fast.
The honest answer is that nobody can price or schedule that project yet because the design-deciding information hasn’t been sent.
Two houses with the same square footage can need very different engineering. One sits on flat ground with a simple gable roof.
The other sits on a sloped lot, has a wide-open ground floor, and a tile roof. The difference between them is not visible in a floor plan alone.
It sits in the brief. What a builder sends before design starts determines the number of redesign rounds, the length of the plan review letter, and the project’s final cost.
This article explains what a complete set of Structural Drawings includes, and why the hour spent on it pays for itself many times over.
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Why Structural Design Starts Badly When The Brief Is Thin
Structural design is a chain of decisions, and every link depends on the one before it. Member sizes depend on loads. Loads depend on spans, materials and the use of each room.
When the brief is thin, the engineer fills the gaps with assumptions, and every assumption is a future revision waiting to happen.
A wall line moves two feet, and the beam beneath it changes size. The roof finish swaps from shingles to tile, and the trusses, their connections and the supporting walls all grow.
None of this means the engineer is slow. It means the design is being rebuilt on new facts. Thin briefs also make quotes unreliable.
One engineer prices the job exactly as drawn. Another prices the job as it will probably end up. The cheaper quote usually wins, and the missing scope returns later as extra fees and lost weeks for everyone.
The Architectural Set: What Must Be Fixed Before Engineering Begins
The most useful thing a builder can send is a settled architectural set. Floor plans with full dimensions come first. Elevations and sections follow.
A roof plan should show slopes, overhangs and bearing lines, because roof geometry decides where loads land on the walls below. Window and door sizes matter more than most builders expect.
Headers and stud packs sit above every opening, and wide openings with heavy spans above them often drive beam design across a whole floor.
Stair locations must be fixed and dimensioned, since a stair opening cuts through the floor framing and needs trimming members around it.
Ceiling heights and floor-to-floor dimensions set wall-stud design and lateral bracing lengths. If parts of the architecture are still moving, say so plainly and mark what is final and what is still draft.
An engineer can design the fixed parts and clearly flag the rest. What nobody can do well is design the entire structure against drawings that change every second day.
Site and Soil Information: An Engineer Cannot Guess
Every structure meets the ground at its foundation, and the ground is local. Frost depth in Minnesota and expansive clay in Texas require completely different foundations on the same house.
Send the project address and the governing code edition if you know it. Send the soils report when one exists, and say so clearly when it does not.
If a previous project on the same street established a wind or seismic category, pass that on as well. Slopes, retaining walls and drainage paths all change foundation design and cost.
Flood zone status matters for foundation walls, vents and finished floor levels. None of this is paperwork for its own sake.
Each item removes a guess from the design, and every removed guess is one less redesign when the building department reviews the set and asks the questions the brief should already have answered.
Loads, Materials and Design Choices: The Builder Must Confirm Early
Tell the engineer how you actually build, because design follows the real building and not a generic one.
Confirm the floor system, whether that is solid sawn joists, engineered I-joists or floor trusses. Confirm the roof framing, stick-built or manufactured trusses, and who supplies the truss design.
Name the sheathing and diaphragm materials you work with. List the heavy finishes and fittings, such as tile or stone floors, soaking tubs, stone counter islands and hot tubs on decks.
Note any solar panels planned for the roof, since their weight and fixing pattern belong in the roof design from the start.
Point out heavy mechanical equipment and where it hangs or sits. Mention future work the owner is already dreaming about, such as a bonus room over the garage or an extension shown on no drawing yet.
Each of these is a load, or a load path decision. Confirmed early, they cost nothing. Discovered late, they reopen finished calculations.
Two more items deserve a mention of their own. Wide openings and open plan spaces often need steel beams or moment frames rather than timber, and that choice affects ceiling depth, cost and lead time all at once.
Masonry fireplaces, tile roofs and exterior stone veneer add serious weight in places a standard structural design does not expect it.
If the project includes any of these, name them in the first email, with rough sizes and locations. A beam specified on day one is one line in a calculation.
The same beam discovered at review stage can mean new drawings, new checks and a fresh round of comments from the building department.
What a Complete Brief Looks Like In Practice
A complete brief fits inside one email. It gives the project address and type. It attaches the architectural set, marked final or draft.
It names the code edition and includes any comments the jurisdiction has already sent on earlier submissions.
It carries the soils information, or a clear note that none exists. It lists the framing and material choices described above. It flags the heavy items and special features.
Finally, it states the delivery date you are working to and exactly what the set must contain, whether that is foundation design only, full framing plans, supporting calculations, or a sealed permit set.
Attach a previously approved set from the same jurisdiction if you have one, since reviewers often favour formats they have accepted before.
That is the whole package. An experienced builder can assemble it in under an hour, and most of it already exists somewhere in the project file.
How a Good Brief Shortens Design Time and Plan Review
With a complete brief, the first design is usually close to the final design. Fewer assumption-driven revisions mean the drawings reach the permit office sooner.
Reviewers also treat complete sets differently. A set that answers the standard questions up front, with loads, materials, connections and the code basis stated on the drawings, draws a shorter comment letter.
Shorter comments mean faster resubmission and fewer conditions to clear. The saving is larger than the engineering fee alone.
It is the crew that is not standing idle, the materials that are ordered on time and the start date that does not slide.
Builders who send strong briefs also receive better quotes, because engineers price certainty lower than risk, and a good brief removes the risk before the price is set.
Before your next project, spend the hour on the brief. Put the address, the settled drawings, the soil facts and the material choices in one email, and send it before you ask for a price.
Your engineer will start designing on day one instead of spending the first week asking questions, and your permit set will show the difference.
That’s all.
About the author
Nadir Mahar is a structural engineer and founder of MAHAR SOLUTION. His team delivers permit-ready structural drawings, construction documents and BIM models for US architects and builders. Over 500 projects delivered.
