RZ Engineering Corp.

If I could give Ramin Zargari, owner of RZ Engineering, an A+ rating, I would do so in a heartbeat. This is the fourth remodel I've undertaken on our various properties, so I know the highs and lows of the process. When I find someone who provides excellent work and customer service, I am happy to spread the word. Here's my experience. I wanted to remove the wall between the kitchen and dining room to open the space on our two-story townhouse, but the wall was load bearing. I had a hard time finding someone willing to come out to the Palos Verdes area, especially since this was a "small" job. I found a recommendation for RZ Engineering on Angie's List, so I gave him a call. I connected with Ramin right away and told him what I needed. He asked me a lot of questions regarding my project, and I held my breath when I told him the property was on the Palos Verdes Peninsula since he was located in the Calabasas area. He said he was fine with driving to the property, and we set a date and time for his inspection. He arrived at the appointment at the scheduled time and met with my contractor and me and together we went through everything. It took over two hours for him to inspect how everything was connected and to make complete measurements, etc. He is extremely knowledgeable, thorough, and trustworthy, and obviously takes great pride in his work. He told me that he would have the drawings and calculations to me the following week, and he did. He even made himself available numerous times to the contractor and me to make sure we understood and completed the project correctly. His price was excellent, as was his professionalism. I will use him for every project that I have from this point on. Thank you Angie's List for recommending a true professional!

Ramin did a great job. He went above and beyond what we originally had agreed on to ensure that the repair would properly fix the problem. I greatly appreciated his input. I would definitely recommend him to anyone looking for a structural engineer.

They were good. There was no charge. It was to look at the foundation structure. It took about a month to make the appointment. We had to wait a good month for them to see us.

My mom's a general contractor/homebuilder back in Florida, and she came out to help us with the work. She LOVED Ramin. She said "That guy is GOOD." That's high praise coming from her. Ramin was called out to consult on two different questions, but my Mom, being the perfectionist she was, asked him a million questions, and he wasn't put out at all, he was lovely and knowledgeable, and told her some really smart stuff. She was impressed, and so was I.

Excellent! Ramin is prompt and responsive to inquiries. We were on a short timeline to get the homes evaluated due to the home buying process (escrow and removing contingencies) and Ramin worked our requests into his schedule quickly. He was very patient with our numerous questions and went to the City of Oxnard with me to ask questions about and view the build plans for one of the homes. I would definitely use Ramin's services again.

We received a thorough analysis of the home including explanations of elevation changes in floors. Everything was explained in details and recommendations were made to try to minimize further changes.

This was the type of job noone wants to do. Several engineers and contractors recomended by friends came out to look at this job and basically blew us off. Then we tried Angie's List and found RZ Engineering Corp. RZ Engineering Corp. not only prepared the structural engineering plans but recommended a competent framer they had worked with before to do repair. The City approved the repair without a hitch. We give RZ Engineering Corpstructural our highest recommendation.

After talking to Ramin on the phone and sending him photos of the cracked roof ridge board he came over to examine. It was the main roof ridge on a two story apartment bldg. He gave me his thoughts on how it can be repaired and I let him know which I preferred. He went to work on the plans for a repair. Kept in contact thru email but was always fast with a response or phone call. The plans for the repair was how I wanted it done supports not a new beam. Very professional saw something that needed my attention and included in drawings. Also was going to put a beam in to support a overhang, Ramin calculated the size and type of beam I would need. He did not have to do this but I guess that's what a person who cares about his customer does. Thanks again.

He arrived on time and was completely prepared.  He was prepared for our meeting and had knowledge of the topography, building plan and permits.   He patiently explained why we had a few cracks in the drywall and stucco and what we should do to stabilize the structure and repair the existing (minor) cracks.   I thought the problem was much bigger than it turned out to b. Instead of capitalizing on my concerns, he put my mind at ease and provided practical  and cost effective recommendations.

Ramin was great.  On-time.  Professional.  He went into the attic and was very careful not to disturb any property.  I would certainly use him again.

Ramin was wonderful. He showed up on time and was very professional and thorough.. He was very fair with the cost and prepared the report for the loan within a couple of days. It was exactly what the loan company needed. I would definitely recommend this Ramin to others needing the service of a Professional Structural Engineer.

Ramin was very professional in all aspects of the job. Started with an email contract detailing task,  cost and time,. Ramin was on time for the inspection, called to verify before arriving. During the inspection , he explained aspects of the house construction , code changes from before 70's and after 70's ( my house was build in 73) , drew diagrams on notebook paper to explain things like how concrete slabs are attached to foundation  footings, code requirements like thickness of foundations and footings.  He presented possible causes for the stucco cracks and concrete footing issues.  I showed him the garage concrete slab (which was a different issue) which displayed cracks from a long standing leak from the outside of the house. He  explained the construction of concrete slabs , code requirements old and new,  and recommended patching materials. He then used a high precision altimeter to measure the floor level in the kitchen and living room to determine how much if any  house tilt was present. He measured up to 20 points, noted these measurements and documented them.  When done he emailed me a summary of his findings.  He commented on how important it is to keep rain water away from the house,  and suggested basic thins like use gutters to divert rain away from foundation and make sure ground slops away from house,  which could be part of the issue. He is a structural engineer and very knowledgeable about home construction , materials and engineering aspects.

In 2014 and 2015 my wife and I extensively remodeled
a house built in 1969. We knew that changing the roof, moving interior walls,
and making openings in an exterior wall for new windows would require
engineering calculations and specifications. We found Ramin Zargari, SE (RZ
Engineering) on Angie?s List. We chose him based on his pleasant manner and
clear explanation of what he would do. His work was timely and reasonably
priced. The city building department signed off on his work right away. When we
were looking for a contractor, we asked Mr. Zagari for names of people he had
worked with. We eventually selected was one of those people, and that worked
out very well. During construction the contractor found a beam in an unexpected
place. Mr. Zargari quickly provided new drawings at minimal cost. Mr. Zargari
did excellent work for us, and we are pleased to recommend him.

Mr. Zargari came to inspect roof rafters where my hvac unit hangs (city inpector required me to have an engineer inspect). He designed a reasonable fix/improvement which I was happy with. He was a pleasure to deal with and his rate was very reasonable

Our house used to have a 25ft wooden beam spanning the entire living space and supporting the flat roof above. We think that due to termites/rot/aging, when previous owners were given a bid to replace the beam, they had sticker shock and went the cheap route. Their solution was to distribute the load of the roof by building a room-separating wall. However, they never supported this now load-bearing wall with footings underneath. With time and weight of water now pooling on the roof due to rains, the floor and the ceiling started sagging (hence the pooling of water on the roof).
Great. I get on Angie's List and search for "structural engineer". RZ Engineering was among the highest rated.
First things first, Ramin Zargari (hence "RZ Engineering") is the most approachable and easy to talk to guy. I called him at 7pm after learning from my current contractor that work that we wanted to have done couldn't move forward without the recommendations and drawings of a structural engineer. He spoke with me on the phone for at least 20min to understand what was going on and clearly layed out what typically needs to be done in these situations. Although he was busy, he scheduled a site-survey 3 days later.
After discussing the difference between what absolutely needed to be done and what we wanted done, he explained the two routes we could take to solve our problem. We chose a route and Ramin got to work calculating beams/posts/footings and 8 days later we had a full drawing and report.
Because Ramin deserves even more appreciation for his professionalism, I want to be very clear on what I am bout to say: Ramin asked me "So we are going to make drawings to submit to the city for a permit, correct?". My response was "Oh please no! Every time i've had to deal with the city, they've delayed things and it's been a nightmare.". Ramin says "Unless it was shoddy work, it shouldn't have been a nightmare...all these things are clearly-regulated and typically never take more than a few days to be approved.". My response was "Ramin, I don't want to submit to the city.". Ramin's response was "Okaaaaaaay", said with a wise and doubtful eye. This conversation is important as you will see later in my review...
Since my contractor was unable to perform the work due to the equipment required to handle a steel beam, Ramin was kind enough to provide contacts for people who are capable of doing the work. Unfortunately, all of them were booked till summer, so we went back to Angie's List to find contractors for this job.
Fast forward a few weeks, and we are being told by the 4 contractors we met with for bids that they would not do such work without acquiring a permit from the city. Three things to say here:
1. I was out of my mind to think that any good work with this scope (i.e: structural) could be performed without a permit.
2. Now I know why Ramin gave me that look and said "Okaaaaaay". 
3. Goes to show the veracity of reviews on Angie's List: these contractors were honest, and Ramin was right.
So, in a panic, I contact Ramin and basically tell him "Yeah, i'm an idiot. My contractor wants to submit your drawings. What do we need to do to get that going?". Ramin probably smiled thinking "I told you soooooo!" when reading my email and responded with:
"Although we had agreed that you were not going to file, I provided all the necessary info in case you would." 
So Ramin anticipated and did beyond his due diligence for what we had agreed on. So in my eyes, Ramin is the ONLY structural engineer i'll ever want to do business with.

The provider was easy to understand and most professional. I can't say enough about the benefit this provider has given us.

Ramin is awesome!! We hired him to come out and survey a structural beam that we were worried about. He addressed the situation and drew up new plans to make the beam structurally sound! We had the beam redone and Ramin stayed in touch during the whole process. Ramin really cares and it shows in his work and communication.

Ramin of RZ Engineering was fantastic.  Very professional and and did really good work.  After coming to our home, Ramin explained to us what would be required to open up the living space in our home.  He then drew up plans for the project which were submitted to the city and passed plan review at first submittal, which I was very happy about.  His price was in line with a couple of other quotes I had received, but I was pleasantly surprised when he reduced his bid after being able to complete the job in less time than originally expected.  That just doesn't happen very often.  When dealing with structural changes to your home, the scope of work can be overwhelming.  Ramin's detailed plans made execution of the job a breeze from start to finish.  Couldn't be happier.  Thanks Ramin!

I needed a quick turn around and didn't need a full report. I just needed confirmation that the home I am purchasing was structurally sound. He did a great job!

Working with Ramin and his team was a great experience and I'd highly recommend RZ.  Very friendly, knowledgable and extremely thorough.  We got a few estimates prior to choosing RZ.  Ramin was the only one who looked under the house and in the attic to get a full perspective of the work - he made no assumptions.  He was very punctual with both the meeting times, as well as the deliverable date of the plans and was very responsive with his communications.  He even provided a great design idea to support our remodel that our contractor and designer didn't think of.  Overall this was a wonderful experience!

We had tried contacting several structural/civil engineers to provide an assessment for a home purchase.  Most were not willing to schedule a time to come see the property and provide us an opinion or to accommodate our tight schedule.  Then we thought to turn to Angie's List (duh!).  There were a few listings for this type of service in our area; we contacted RZ Engineering just because they were close by and highly rated.  Thank you Angie's List!  Thank you RZ Engineering Corp!!
It was apparent that Ramin Zagari (RZ) was an extremely experienced civil and structural engineer.  From the minute that I spoke with him on the phone, it was evident that he was a knowledgable professional and familiar with our geographic area.  After discussing our situation, he agreed to squeeze our consultation/inspection request into his completely booked scheduled.  He provided an email address, read our inspection report and met us the next day. 
He arrived as promised; efficiently and quickly performed various measurements, checked the structure, foundation, etc., drew sketches that explained his assessment and showed us his supporting data. 
He was:
1) matter of fact (not an alarmist), which we also appreciated
2) explained factually what he saw in ways we could understand
3) explained and showed us evidence as to why he drew the conclusions that he presented and
4) suggested steps we might consider to do to resolve our concern.
A consummate professional, he addressed the issue and we felt confident to move forward.

I needed to install a guardrail for an apartment complex with permit from city of Los Angeles. Not only Ramin provided professional engineering plans for the gaurdrail and site plans for the building, but he also went above and beyond to ensure that this project receives appropriate permits and passes the final inspection with the city of Los Angeles. He is very prompt and easy to communicate with and he makes himself available at all times. He coordinated between multiples parties including general contractor and epoxy inspector and provided his expertise at every stage of the process to ensure that the project is done is a timely, cost effective and professional manner. His work is excellent and he is very pleasant and easy to work with. I highly recommend Ramin for engineering projects. 

I e-mailed Ramin on a Sunday, and heard back from him within hours, asking for more details about my concerns.  He suggested a time to talk on the phone the next day, and then called as promised.  We set up an appointment for the following week.  Ramin arrived on time, listened carefully to my concerns, and then examined the whole house, foundation to attic.  He took a lot of measurements, and compared them with the architectural plans.  When he was done, he sat down with me and explained in detail what he had discovered about the engineering of the house, and likely reasons for the the problems I had noticed. I also asked his opinion on whether the house was strong enough to hold solar panels (it is) and he offered to perform the calculations to determine the maximum safe weight, should we decide to proceed in the future.  The next day, Ramin e-mailed me a summary of his findings.  I followed up with another question, and he called me to provide a detailed response.  I would highly recommend RZ Engineering.

Great.  Prompt response. Nice about explaining everything to me.  Reasonable price. Quick turnaround time. 

I did a lot of research before deciding to contact RZ Engineering.  Criteria I set included: Had to be an independent engineer, i.e., not associated with a construction company, had to be licensed, and had to be experienced.  Ramin Zargari met my criteria and  I was impressed with his responsiveness and professionalism.  He listened while I described my areas of concern and showed him what I thought mattered.  Then he did his own inspection inside and out.  He explained what he believed was the issue but wanted to come back in several weeks with equipment that would provide the evidence to prove or disprove his initial hypothesis.  The first visit was several hours.  I did something I never do - paid him in full before the job was finished.  But, true to his word - he called when he said he would and came back with the equipment that provided measurements.  At the end of that session, he recommended we wait 6 months to see if the situation is stable.  I have confidence he will remember my situation and will recommend alternate courses of action at the appropriate time.  I would recommend Ramin to others.  Stay tuned for the rest of the story.