Vident Partners provides vetted structural engineering expert witnesses for cases involving building collapse, construction defect analysis, foundation failure, and structural adequacy disputes in residential and commercial projects. Request a referral today.
Find a Structural Engineering Expert →Overview
Structural engineering experts evaluate the design, construction, and integrity of buildings, bridges, and other load-bearing structures. They are essential in construction defect cases, building collapse investigations, and disputes over structural adequacy. These experts analyze whether structural elements were designed and constructed in accordance with applicable building codes and engineering standards. The primary load standard is ASCE/SEI 7, published by the American Society of Civil Engineers, which defines minimum design loads for dead, live, wind, seismic, snow, flood, tsunami, and atmospheric ice conditions and is adopted by reference into the IBC and other major building codes 1. For complex structures, experts also apply ACI 318 for concrete design, AISC standards for steel, and NDS for wood construction. The Structural Engineer (SE) license, available in roughly half of U.S. states, represents an advanced credential beyond the standard Professional Engineer (P.E.) license and signals specialized competency in building design and failure analysis 2. Structural experts reconstruct load paths, model failure sequences, and determine whether observed damage resulted from design errors, construction defects, inadequate maintenance, or the forces of a natural event such as a wind or seismic load that exceeded design parameters. Their testimony often integrates physical inspection findings, computational structural analysis, and comparison to the code edition in force at the time of construction.
ASCE 7-22 is the nationally adopted loading standard for general structural design and is adopted by reference into the International Building Code, the International Residential Code, and NFPA 5000.
Case Types
Building collapse and structural failure investigation
Residential and commercial construction defects
Foundation failure and settlement damage
Structural adequacy of existing buildings
Wind, seismic, and natural disaster damage assessment
Qualifications
Related Specialties
FAQ
Civil engineering is a broad discipline covering roads, utilities, drainage, and site development. Structural engineering is a subspecialty focused specifically on the design and analysis of load-bearing structures. While all structural engineers are civil engineers, not all civil engineers have the specialized training to evaluate structural adequacy.
Structural engineers are needed in building collapse investigations, construction defect cases involving structural elements, foundation failure disputes, natural disaster damage assessment, and any case where the structural integrity of a building, bridge, or other structure is at issue.
In general, engineering expert fees are determined by the expert themselves, based on a variety of criteria. Among those criteria are professional experience, forensic experience, engineering certifications and licensure, industry specialization, and publications. Vident does have some influence over expert fees by comparing experts within a specialty, but ultimately it is a personal decision by the expert.
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Vident Partners connects attorneys with qualified structural engineering expert witnesses. Complimentary consultation, 24-hour turnaround, no obligation.
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