Licensed Professional Engineer · Serving All of Wisconsin
Designing residential additions, structural and foundation design, site and grading plans, and permit-ready drawing sets. Work with a small firm with a direct line to the engineer doing the work.
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01 / Scope of work
Full design for bump-outs, second stories, garages and in-law suites. Plans for new homes, pole barns and other buildings.
++++Engineered deck, porch and screen-room plans, including ledger and footing details that pass inspection.
++++Open up a floor plan safely: what's carrying load, what replaces it, and how it gets to the ground.
++++On-site evaluation of new builds, work in progress or existing buildings. Analyzing problems, assessing what's there, and finding solutions.
++++Drawing sets built to satisfy your building department the first time, stamped and sealed by a Wisconsin PE.
++++Footings, frost walls and slabs designed for your soils and your site, including additions on difficult or tight lots.
++++Beams, headers, joists and connections sized for real loads — snow, wind and everything the addition puts on what's already there.
++++Site layout, like planning house locations consider setbacks and septic areas. Grading plan, including planning house elevations and the sloping of your site to meet your needs.
++++Keep water away from the new work and off the neighbors. Drainage designs and stormwater issue reviews. I also review existing drainage problems and design the solutions.
++++02 / The case for drawings
Plenty of projects get built off a napkin sketch and a handshake. Engineered plans allow you to get competitive construction bids, and minimize risk and surprises with your build.
A drawing set is the cheapest part of your project and the part that governs everything after it. Before a shovel moves or a contract is signed, plans tell contractors exactly what they are bidding and tell you exactly what you are paying for.
Apples to apples
With engineered plans, every contractor bids the same footings, the same framing, the same scope. The spread between quotes becomes a real difference in price and not a difference in what each builder assumed you wanted.
++++Better pricing
Builders price in unknowns as risk. When the structure is worked out on paper first, with beam spans sized, and details resolved, contractors can sharpen their numbers instead of padding them.
++++03 / What to expect
Send the form below or an email with where the project is and what you want to do. Sketches and photos help but they're not required.
We talk it through, then you get a written scope with a flat fee before any work starts.
I work out the design and produce the drawing set, checking in with you along the way.
You get a sealed set to bid and to submit. If your local building department has questions, I answer them.
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04 / About
I've worked in the building industry since 2010, hold a Civil Engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, am a licensed Building Official, and licensed Professional Engineer in Wisconsin. HW Building Services is a small firm on purpose: the person you call is the person drawing your plans.
That makes me a good fit for the work large architecture and engineering firms find awkward to take on. Call me for a single addition, removing a wall to open up your existing space, planning additions on difficult lots, or evaluating issues with existing buildings.
Service area
Serving all of Wisconsin from my office in New Richmond.
05 / Contact
Send the basic info about what you're trying to do and where. I reply to every inquiry within one business day.
Received
If it's urgent, email me directly at matthew@hw-building.com.