Chabot Enginieering

We called in Cindy after cracks in a cathedral ceiling continued to get worse.  She was able to diagnose sagging in the roof ridge beam and undersized rafters as the problem.  She was able to devise a plan which installed secondary structure which took on the roof load.  This design resulted in no intrusion into any of the used living spaces, which is a big benefit.
The resulting structure was satisfactory.  Cindy was very responsive in answering the contractor's quickly, thus enabling the work to continue on schedule and assure the contractor correctly implemented the plans.  She also maintained contact with us to keep us in the loop with those discussions.
This was a very successful intervention.

Cindy called back promptly when I emailed her. We set up an appointment for several weeks later. I contacted several other structural engineers and a couple didn't call back and one (Cowen) took several days to get back to me. We went with Cindy because she was in our local area and reasonably priced for an initial consultation.
Our house is over 80 years old and has settled some and definitely has its quirks. Our basement is pretty complicated and she was helpful in terms of giving us some suggestions about what we should do. She also indicated that we should go to a builder/contractor directly to do some of the work and only get a structural plan from her if the builder or the town required it. It was good to get some expert advise on some projects we were intending to do anyway.
In the end, Cindy couldn't pinpoint the cause of the hairline cracks in our living room but said we should monitor them to see if they get worse. For our basement she recommended replacing a bunch of lolly columns and adding in a supporting retaining wall. I think in general it can be difficult to determine event as an expert exactly what causes some cracks etc. I appreciated that she didn't try to oversell what she knew.

Cindy has been amazing - we don't have the plans yet but she was responsive, punctual and honest in her delivery times. When she came out to do the initial inspecation she was very thorough. She explained everything as she went and has made us feel very confident with her quality of work. She has been very responsive to all of our questions along the way and we are looking foward to continuing to work with her!

She was at my home for a couple of hours. She sent me an in depth and specific email regarding her findings. She was right to the task when she arrived and did an excellent job. The information was very specific and thorough. Extremely knowledgeable. I would recommend to anyone.

Our home inspector had suggested that perhaps our carrying beam needed additional support, and that we should have someone look at it. Instead of relying upon a contractor to diagnose and fix this issue, we hired Ms. Chabot. She agreed that our carrying beam could use some added lally columns, and estimated where they should be, though we would need a full analysis to get precise guidance from her. She also pointed out three other locations that, at a glance, appeared like they could use shoring up, probably due to remodeling projects by former owners. We also now know what to ask a contractor to look for to make sure, as we suspect, that our front and back porch footings have been updated to modern standards. We considered having Ms. Chabot do a full engineering survey of our property, but the $3900 estimate is unfortunately a little too much for us to spend without there being a pressing existing problem. Overall, our house is pretty sound, and we appreciated confirming that.

CINDY IS INCREDIBLY THOROUGH, PROFESSIONAL, AND HELPFUL. HER REPORT WAS EXTREMELY DETAILED AND VERY NICELY DONE. SHE WORKED ALL WEEKEND OVER A HOLIDAY WEEKEND TO COMPLETE IT, SINCE WE WERE UNDER TIME PRESSURE. SHE IS VERY SYMPATHETIC, AND MAKES SURE YOU UNDERSTAND EXACTLY WHAT IS HAPPENING AT EACH STEP IN THE PROCESS. SHE IS EXTREMELY RECEPTIVE TO QUESTIONS. I CAN'T IMAGINE HAVING A BETTER EXPERIENCE WITH STRUCTURAL ENGINEER (I'VE WORKED WITH 2 OTHERS, AND CINDY IS LEAGUES ABOVE THEM). OVERALL, I'M EXTREMELY HAPPY WITH THE WORK SHE'S DONE!