The structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and civil engineers you hire shape everything downstream: permit speed, bid accuracy, field conflicts, and change orders. Most owners select on fee alone. That is the most expensive way to choose.
The questions
### 1. Who is my actual project engineer — and will they stay on the project?
Firms sell principals and staff juniors. Ask who does the daily work, their experience with your building type, and whether they will be there at the end. Mid-project staff turnover is a top cause of coordination failures.
### 2. What is your plan-check approval rate on first submittal?
Good firms track this. A firm with an 80%+ first-cycle approval rate in your jurisdiction saves months over one that treats corrections as normal. Ask for the number, not adjectives.
### 3. How do you coordinate between disciplines?
Listen for specifics: BIM coordination, scheduled coordination meetings with sign-off, a designated coordination lead. 'We coordinate closely' without a process is not a process.
### 4. Can I see a recent drawing set for a similar project?
The drawings are the product. Review them for completeness: details that actually detail, sections cut where sections are needed, notes that specify rather than gesture. Thin drawing sets become thick change orders.
### 5. How do you handle value engineering — and when?
Value engineering during design saves money. Value engineering during construction costs money. The right answer includes a formal VE review at design development, not just 'we can look at alternates.'
### 6. What is excluded from your fee?
The proposal's exclusion list matters more than its scope list. Reimbursables, special inspections, geotechnical coordination, permit expediting, construction administration visits beyond a number — know the boundaries before you sign.
### 7. How many site visits are included, and what triggers more?
Construction administration is where design intent survives or dies. A firm that includes two site visits on a complex project is planning to be absent when the critical questions arise.
### 8. What is your typical RFI response time?
Days, not weeks. Slow RFI responses idle crews at thousands of dollars per day. Ask for the contractual commitment, not the aspiration.
### 9. Are you licensed where my project is — and is the stamp in-house?
For multi-state owners, confirm the sealing engineer is licensed in the project state and employed by the firm — not a rented stamp. Ask directly; legitimate firms answer directly.
### 10. How do you price changes to scope?
Fixed-fee projects still change. The firm should have a clear additional-services rate schedule in the proposal. Discovering the hourly rates mid-project, during a dispute, is the bad version.
### 11. What do your references say about schedule performance?
Call references and ask one question: did the engineering hold the schedule, and if not, whose fault was it? Patterns across references are data.
### 12. What will you tell me that I do not want to hear?
The best question. Good engineers deliver bad news early — the soils are worse than hoped, the scheme does not work, the budget is light. Firms that only bring good news bring the bad news later, when it costs ten times more.
Red flags
- Fee dramatically below the others (the scope is thinner than it looks)
- No recent work in your jurisdiction (they will learn the plan checkers on your project)
- Principal sells, junior delivers, and nobody tells you
- No coordination process described
- Reluctance to share a sample drawing set
The bottom line
Engineering fees are 6-12% of construction cost. The difference between a good firm and a cheap firm is a fraction of that — while the cost of poor engineering coordination shows up as 5-15% in change orders. Hire the firm that answers these twelve questions well. It is the highest-ROI decision in the project.