Most decks never involve an engineer. A modest structure at a normal height on ordinary ground can usually be built from the prescriptive tables in the building code, and the plan reviewer signs it off without further questions.
Then there are the other ones. The deck that reaches a second storey. The one carrying a hot tub. The one attached to a house nobody has opened up in ninety years. For those, somebody with a professional engineer’s licence has to put their seal on a drawing and take responsibility for the numbers.
Silver Creek Engineering is one of the firms in Indianapolis that does that work. This guide covers who they are, where they are, and, more usefully, how to tell whether your project is going to need them.
About Silver Creek Engineering
Silver Creek Engineering, known as SCE, was established in Indianapolis in 1994. The firm provides structural and site or civil engineering services, covering analysis, design and construction observation. Its work spans commercial, industrial and residential projects, and it operates from the northwest side of the city. Full details are at sceindy.com.
The BBB record lists the business start date as May 1994, records BBB accreditation since December 1997, and names Steven Kessinger as president and Amy Wesner as business manager. The company states it is licensed to provide professional engineering services in 31 states.
The firm’s own description of its range is unusually plain spoken for the profession. It says that whether a project is a new multi million dollar facility or a foundation crack in somebody’s house, it gets the same professional attention. For a homeowner, that is the relevant half of the sentence: a firm that does large commercial work but does not treat a residential job as beneath it.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Address | 7225 Woodland Drive, Suite 200, Indianapolis, IN 46278 |
| Phone | (317) 297-5610 |
| Established | 1994 |
| Leadership | Steven Kessinger, president; Amy Wesner, business manager |
| Services | Structural engineering, site and civil design, analysis, construction observation, evaluation and remediation design |
| Licensed in | 31 states, per the company |
| Hours | Monday through Thursday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. |
| Note | Friday is a half day. Plan calls accordingly. |
What a Structural Engineer Actually Does on a House
The job is not drawing pictures of decks. It is calculating whether a proposed structure will carry the loads it is going to see, and then producing sealed documents that a building department will accept as proof.
On a residential project that typically means some combination of:
- Evaluating an existing structure to determine what it can carry, which matters when attaching something new to an old house.
- Designing a new structure or a modification, sized for the actual loads rather than a generic table.
- Producing sealed drawings and calculations for a permit application.
- Construction observation, meaning someone returns during the build to confirm what is being built matches what was designed.
- Remediation design when something existing has already failed or moved.
That last category is how many homeowners first meet an engineer. An inspection report during a house sale flags something, and suddenly a licensed structural engineer has to look at it.
Does Your Deck Need One?
This is the practical question, and the honest answer is that it depends on your jurisdiction, because requirements are not uniform across Marion County and the surrounding towns. Still, some situations raise the question far more often than others.
Height is the most common of these. raised and tiered deck structures behave differently from a low platform, because the posts get longer, lateral bracing starts to matter, and the consequences of a failure change entirely. On a sloped lot, a tiered structure is frequently the right design answer, and it is also the design most likely to attract a plan reviewer’s attention.
Concentrated load is the one people miss. A hot tub is the obvious example, but an outdoor kitchen with masonry, a stone fireplace, or a cluster of large planters all put weight into a small area of the frame. Any of them can turn a routine deck into an engineered one.
The cheapest time to ask is first
Call your building department before the design is finished. Ask directly whether your proposed structure will require sealed drawings. That one call, made early, is free.
The expensive version is the same question answered eight weeks later, when a permit application comes back requesting engineered documents and the whole project waits while drawings are produced.
Working With an Engineering Firm
Engineering is billed differently from construction, and the difference surprises homeowners. Most firms bill hourly against a written proposal that sets out the scope and an estimated total.
A few things worth doing:
- Get the proposal in writing before work starts, including the scope and the fee basis.
- Ask whether the estimate is a not to exceed figure or an estimate that can be exceeded. This distinction is where most billing disputes come from.
- Ask what deliverable you receive: a letter, a report, sealed drawings, or calculations. These are not the same thing and your building department may require a specific one.
- Ask whether site visits and report review are included or billed separately.
- Ask what happens if the plan reviewer comes back with questions.
None of this is adversarial. It is the same clarity you would want on any professional service, and a well run firm will have straightforward answers.
Location, Directions and Access
Silver Creek Engineering, Inc., 7225 Woodland Drive, Suite 200, Indianapolis, IN 46278. Phone: (317) 297-5610.
The office sits in the Woodland Drive office park on the northwest side of Indianapolis, in the corridor north of West 71st Street.
From Interstate 65
Take the 71st Street exit and head east on West 71st Street. Woodland Drive runs north off that corridor.
From the West 71st Street and Zionsville Road intersection
The Woodland Drive office park sits just to the northwest of that intersection. The building is a multi tenant office address, so look for Suite 200 rather than a standalone office.
Access notes
- Hours run 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Friday. The Friday half day catches people out.
- This is a professional office, not a walk in service. Call or email first and describe the project.
- Bring anything you already have: the permit application, a plan reviewer’s comments, an inspection report, photographs, and any existing drawings of the house.
- The more precisely you can state what your building department is asking for, the faster and cheaper the engagement will be.
Planning Around the Engineering Step
If an engineer is likely to be involved, build the timeline around that rather than treating it as an afterthought. The engineering step sits between design and permit, and it has its own lead time.
Material decisions can proceed in parallel. Details like spacing and dimensions for composite boards affect the framing layout, because joist spacing depends partly on the decking product going on top of it. Settling the surface material early gives the engineer a fixed input rather than a moving one.
Jurisdiction matters too. Projects north and west of the city sit under different review processes than Marion County addresses, and if your property is in that corridor, reading about deck additions in the Anson and Whitestown corridor will give you a sense of how the local process runs before you are inside it.
Platinum Deck and Patio builds decks and paver patios across the Indianapolis metro. On projects where engineered drawings are required, the sequence that works is: design intent, then engineering, then permit, then build. Reversing any two of those costs time.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long has Silver Creek Engineering been in business?
The firm was established in Indianapolis in 1994, and BBB records list the business start date as May of that year.
Do they work on residential projects?
The company states experience across commercial, industrial and residential projects of all sizes, and describes taking on work as small as a foundation crack in a house.
What is a sealed drawing?
A drawing stamped and signed by a licensed professional engineer, who is professionally responsible for the design it describes. Building departments require them when a structure falls outside what the prescriptive code covers.
Will I definitely need an engineer for my deck?
Probably not, for a straightforward deck at a normal height on ordinary ground. Height, concentrated loads such as a hot tub, unusual geometry, difficult soil and attachment to an older house all raise the likelihood. Your building department decides.
What are the office hours?
Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Friday from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.
How much does residential structural engineering cost?
It varies with scope and is normally billed hourly against a written proposal. Ask for the proposal up front and clarify whether the estimated total is a cap or an estimate.
The Bottom Line
Silver Creek Engineering has been practising in Indianapolis since 1994, doing the sort of work that is invisible when it goes right. Nobody admires a correctly sized beam. They only ever notice the one that was not.
If your deck is tall, carrying something heavy, shaped unusually, sitting on questionable ground, or attaching to an old house, ask your building department early whether sealed drawings will be required. If the answer is yes, an engineer stops being an expense and becomes the thing standing between you and a structure that moves.
And if the answer is no, you have spent one phone call finding that out. That is a good trade either way.