Looking for licensed structural engineer TN

[mikey]

Anyone have a good recommendation for a licensed structural engineer in the state of TN? I've been dialing for dollars for a ridiculously long time and can't find anyone to do the engineering drawings for my garage. A couple have said they would but then ghost me, even after initial consultation. It's a very strange world out there at the moment, trying to find good help.

The garage is going to be built into a hillside and covered with 2-3 feet of dirt on top. Figuring poured concrete walls, reinforced with rebar. Roof likely steel i-beams, steel deck with concrete on top.

I had a structural engineer draw a retaining wall section which is similar to the garage requirements, less the roof section. But he said he only did walls, and didn't want to draw the roof structure.

Another engineer said he would draw it and had me over to his house where he works out of now (mostly retired guy who has done bridges and commercial projects in the past). We spent about an hour reviewing the architect drawings, photos of my property (which was already excavated 2 months ago), etc. He said give him a week and it would be done. 3 weeks have gone by and he won't answer the phone.

Incidentally, that guy was referred to me by the guy who drew the retaining wall. And the retaining wall guy avoided me for 2 months after saying he'd draw that but it wasn't until I drove an hour to his office and sat there before he actually started drawing.

So right now I have a torn up yard and nothing else..

Appreciate any leads anyone can provide for someone who is competent and honest.

Happy Father's Day!
Mike

[TedV]

I've had good luck using Corum Engineering, P.C. here close to Knoxville, TN on a structure on a slope needing support work. They will only do the design. You have to find a contractor that will actually show up and do the job specified (good luck on that) You might contact them and see if they have a recommendation for the Nashville area or it might be worth the distance traveled. I believe they will need or will want to come to the site to look at the details. I'm not sure if they will travel to Nashville as I believe they have plenty of work around Knoxville with all our craptacular builders making folks have to remediate terrible builds.

good luck!

[whadeduck]

Not to make things more complicated than they already are, but with digging into the hillside and covering the roof of the structure with dirt, do you need to have a geotechnical engineer involved as well?

[mikey]

Not to make things more complicated than they already are, but with digging into the hillside and covering the roof of the structure with dirt, do you need to have a geotechnical engineer involved as well?

no we won’t need that for this project

[whadeduck]

no we won’t need that for this project

[FVRacer21]

Not an engineer and I like the idea of a structure built into the side of a hill for heating/cooling reasons, but what is the purpose of the dirt on top?

I keep trying to figure on how to expand my basement under my garage. Dan Grace had a garage with a basement, had sliding ceiling sections in the basement for doing oil changes and such. The basement was 3/4 built into a hill, so he could have doors big enough for a race car, the upper part was the garage that looked normal. Just needed a driveway around to the back. Brilliant.

ChrisZ

[mikey]

The only reason for dirt on top is to restore the original grade of the hill. The building is 2-3 feet shorter than the original section of hill we excavated. So when finished it’ll only be exposed on the door side (4 single car doors). And on satellite it’ll just look like a grassy knoll

[Earley Motorsports]

Make a great tornado shelter too.

[Garey Guzman]

If you haven't found someone yet, I'd suggest going to the "Interview contractors" stage with part of the interview being who they'd use as a structural engineer or suggest one for you to finish your drawings.