Structural Engineering

A structural engineer designs and verifies the load-bearing skeleton of a building — the foundation, framing, beams, and columns that transfer gravity, wind, and soil forces safely into the ground. While architects determine how a building looks and functions, structural engineers determine whether it will stand.

You need a licensed structural engineer (and often a PE-sealed drawing) when:

• Constructing a new home, commercial building, or addition
• Removing or modifying a load-bearing wall or column
• Applying for a building permit that requires structural drawings
• Undergoing a pre-pour concrete inspection required by your municipality or lender
• Assessing structural damage after a storm, settlement event, or vehicle impact
• Designing a second-story addition, ADU, or significant remodel
• Pursuing a construction loan requiring engineering certification

In San Antonio and across Texas, most jurisdictions and lenders require PE-sealed structural drawings and field inspection letters before concrete can be poured or an occupancy certificate issued.

A pre-pour inspection — also called a pre-pour certification or foundation inspection — is a formal site visit conducted by a licensed Professional Engineer before concrete is placed for a foundation slab, grade beams, or structural slab. During the inspection, the PE verifies that:

• Rebar size, spacing, and placement match the approved structural drawings
• Grade beam dimensions and reinforcement are correctly positioned
• Vapor barrier, anchor bolts, and embedments are correctly installed
• Subgrade is properly prepared and compacted
• No field modifications have been made that deviate from the permitted design

After the inspection, GGE issues a written pre-pour letter bearing Gustavo Gonzalez, P.E.’s professional seal — the document your building department and lender require before the concrete truck is called.

The City of San Antonio and surrounding municipalities commonly require a PE-signed pre-pour letter as a condition of the foundation permit. Without it, your pour cannot legally proceed.

Yes — GGE serves both markets with equal expertise. Our residential structural engineering work includes custom home foundations, wood framing design, room additions, ADUs, load-bearing wall analysis, storm damage assessments, and pre-purchase structural evaluations for homeowners and real estate investors across San Antonio.

On the commercial side, GGE has delivered structural engineering on projects ranging from $88,000 community infrastructure renovations to $1.9 million roadway and access improvement programs for the City of San Antonio and Toyota — demonstrating the firm’s capacity across project scale and complexity. Commercial capabilities include steel frame design, tilt-wall coordination, school facility structural engineering, and multi-agency government projects.

Regardless of project size, every structural deliverable is personally reviewed and PE-sealed by Gustavo Gonzalez — there is no tiered service model that routes smaller residential projects to junior staff.

GGE is built specifically around this integration — it is one of the firm’s defining competitive advantages. Most engineering projects require structural design, civil site design, and land surveying to proceed from entitlement through permit. When those three disciplines come from separate firms, clients face coordination overhead, drawing conflicts, and schedule delays as each firm waits on the others.

At GGE, structural, civil, and surveying scopes are managed under a single project number, a single project manager (Gustavo Gonzalez, P.E.), and a single invoice. Survey data flows directly into civil and structural design without translation errors. Foundation designs are coordinated with site drainage and utility layouts. Permit packages are submitted as a unified, internally reviewed set of drawings.

This one-stop integration routinely saves clients 2–4 weeks of coordination time and eliminates the finger-pointing that occurs when structural, civil, and survey firms disagree on field conditions.

GGE uses an industry-standard professional software stack designed for accurate, code-compliant structural analysis and production-ready drawing delivery:

• RISA Structural — 3D structural modeling and analysis for steel, concrete, wood, and masonry systems, including load combination analysis per IBC and ASCE 7
• AutoCAD Civil 3D — Production of structural and civil drawings coordinated in a shared CAD environment
• AutoDesk Infrastructure Modeler — Site and infrastructure modeling for complex civil-structural integration
• HEC-RAS — Hydraulic modeling for drainage and floodplain coordination around structural sites

All analyses are performed to the current International Building Code (IBC), Texas-adopted amendments, and applicable AISC, ACI, AF&PA, and TAS standards. Structural calculations are retained in project files and provided to clients or building officials upon request.

GGE’s 15+ CAD workstations, high-performance computing environment, and dual-monitor engineering setups allow rapid design iterations and prompt turnaround on permit packages and change order responses.