Welcome to
JG Engineering

No Problem Too Big or Too Small

Hello! I've been a Structural Engineer since I graduated from UB in 2008. I work hard to provide efficient and safe solutions to my clients for the most cost-effective result. Whether it is removing a load bearing wall, adding an addition, designing an entirely new house, or just to ask a question of concern: I'm here to put your mind at ease. This is why I strive to make sure my work reflects such high standards.

(Humble Brag: I only have 5-star reviews on Google. Your project isn't complete until it's perfect)

About Us

Who We Are

Sweet Dreams Engineering has been expanding its engineering and Real Estate services since its establishment in 2008. Our aim has always been to provide clarity and solutions to any of your structural concerns or questions. For each project, we work carefully to stay within budget while providing maximum value for our clients and their needs. Our specialty is wood or steel framed structures, concrete or masonry foundations, and projects ranging in sizes from a single wall, to 10,000 sq. ft. new builds. And anything in between. Our expertise knows no limit, which we provide to you for the lowest cost.

Our Services

Offering Solutions That Make A Difference

Engineering Consulting

Call us now for a free 15-minute consultation! We'll answer any questions you have completely free of charge to you. We would love to help you with any Structural concerns you have about a property and give you a peace of mind as to what your next steps will be.

Site Inspections

Sweet Dreams Engineering provides clients with an expert engineering team equipped with diverse skills to meet various challenges across industries. Through in-person or virtual site inspections, we can obtain the information we need to assess the structural needs of your project.

Structural Designing and Drawings

Providing Structural Designing is vital to maintaining safety in most projects we undertake at Sweet Dreams Engineering. Whether a project is in the Residential or Commercial sector, Structural Designing is important in order to ensure that all engineering projects completed by our Structural Engineering Firm are safe, stable, and built to last under budget. We can also provide any construction drawings you may need for Permit, Bid, or Construction. We can also show you your project in 3D using the software combination of Revit and Enscape and the Unreal Engine to show you what your finished project will look like.

Real Estate Salesperson (Residential / Commercial)

Looking to buy or sell a house or property, but frustrated that you have to waive the inspection to make the offer competitive?

Wouldn't it be nice if you could look at a property with a Home Inspector and Structural Engineer and a Realtor?

You can! One of our licensed Professional Engineers also has his Home Inspector License and Real Estate Sales Person License, as well as 15 years of Structural Engineering and Construction Experience, and 12 years of Real Estate experience with over 100 successful closings.

Real Estate Strategy Session/Showings
30 min
Free
Book Now
Free 15-min Phone Call Consultation
15 min
Book Now
On-Site Verbal Structural Consultation
1 hr
500 US dollars
Book Now
Structural Design
4 hr
$150/Design Hour
Book Now
Construction Drawings
8 hr
$1,000 Per Sheet
Book Now
Home Inspection
2 hr
Call for Pricing
Book Now

Testimonies

Past Clients

Recent Projects

Instagram Account:
@sweetdreamsengineering

Summer adventures!

1. New steel Bridge design
2. Basement new slab
3. Removing pesky walls
4. Removing pesky chimneys
5. Load bearing electrical lines
6. Bouncy floors caused by a poor rotted 2x8 holding 4 other joists 🤦‍♂️
7. How the Bills played on Monday

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#goodtobeback #isteeldontunderstand #woodyougivemeabreak #youcrackmeup #shockingdiscoveries #tenoutofrotten
#GoBills

June Recap!

1.-5. Removing some pesky load bearing walls

6./7. Commercial building directly next to the canal with "bouncy floors". Main girder post foundations had rotted away 😳

8./9. Garage "sinking" due to Rochester winters slowly eroding away foundation.

10. Our newest Engineering Marvel!

Month of May recap!

Theme of the month: Wood in contact with the ground, or even concrete, is going to rot, even if it's pressure treated. Zinc stand-off post base is necessary.

Deferred maintenence will always cost more money in the end. A house addition slipping down a hill could have been prevented 10 years ago when it was first noticed. Now substantial and costly foundation work is required before it slides down the hill.

Water will always win, we just need to stay out of its way, or effectively divert it away.

Lastly, steel is really my favorite building material. So strong, so effective, with a beautiful stress/strain curve that is measurable. Removing a load bearing column in a basement is not difficult, when the steel is reinforced for a new load path.

Hope you all have a great June! Our family is expecting a second Engineering marvel! :)

April recap!

Some very.... interesting... foundation supports

A few more examples of why water will always win over time

Fun cargo container build

Headliner lounge at CMAC up and ready for concerts.

What will May have in store??

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#AprilShowers #BringFoundationHeaving #youcrackmeup #rocksareforskippingnotfoundations #woodyoulookatthat #icantcontainermyexcitement

March Madness!

My 10 favorite photos from this month:

1. Fun attempt at lateral bracing in a garage that needs to be demoed

2. 3. House in Buffalo @youngliondevelopment is bringing back to life.

4.-7. Just some beautiful woodwork in 1920s homes in Rochester.

8.9. "Can this steel beam be salvaged?" LOL 🤣

10. 7ft tall tower my son destroyed soon after.

Happy Friday!

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#marchmadness #woodntyou #latticeappreciatethatcraftsmanship #besteelmyheart #burjkhalifawho

February adventures!

From beautiful N.E.W. pole barns, to soggy lakehouse basements.

1987 Furnaces still going strong (they literally don't make them like they used to)

Foundation settlement cracks, and taking out the middle load bearing wall of a ranch flip.

And a little glimpse to the future engineers :)

I signed up to be an Engineer to drive a train.... but this is fun too!

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#choochoo #youcrackmeup #woodyoulikeahouselikethis #36yearoldfurnace #jengamaster #waterpluswoodisbad

Photo dump of the adventures in January. I obtained my real estate license a year ago, and that, combined with a P.E. and home inspector license have lead me to some.... "interesting" houses.

Doing my best to keep everyone alive.

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#loadbearingcarjack #whenindoubtadd30morenails #youcrackmeup #foundation #woodyoupleasestopcuttingjoists #2x4header #knobandtube

The theme of the past couple weeks has been "I'm sorry my joist was in your way."

And yes, that last photo has a load bearing joist hanger bearing on ductwork 🤦‍♂️

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#stopcuttingmyjoists #evilplumbers #evilHVAC #joistleavemealone #loadbearingductwork

Beautiful 1908 house with a few mysteries. Literally a secret 9'x9' room is hidden in between floors and a history of renovations done inside the house. Our issue was being caused by a chimney that was removed on the first floor, and then hung from the floor joists with steel straps.... 🤦‍♂️

A mason rebuilt the missing piece of chimney, but that concentrated load had a large impact throughout the rest of the house.

Nothing a good structural engineer can't solve in a 16 point 74 page report 😅

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#youcrackmeup #secretroom #1908 #colonial #chimney #masonry #shesabrickhouse

Theme of this week: cracks!

3 different site inspections with cracks in the foundation wall. Step cracks, stress cracks, horizontal, vertical cracks. Can you see the cracks, on the back, of a two-toed Wallbillaboo yak?

That turned into a Dr. Seuss, and I'm ok with that.

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#youcrackmeup #redfishbluefish #epoxygluethis #cmu #masonry

Water will always win. Why it's important to have frost walls, and footings below frost line, and reinforcement in both directions of a masonry wall. Water freezes, and if your structure is weaker than frozen water (~3625psi), water will win 🥶

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#frozen #letitgo #drainage #frostheave #wateryouwaitingfor #concrete #masonry

Appreciating some everyday engineering around us at Friendcation near Cedar Point, OH, and beautiful construction in Indiana

10" of spray foam insulation in the barndominum! You could heat that place with a candle!
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#everydayengineering #thankyouengineers #friendcation #energyefficient #barndominium

Removing some walls to replace with some Microllams, and a very old house where the existing wood timber joists are... well... not really "joisting" anymore.

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#microllam #loadbearingwall #youwoodtoo #joistnotjoust #1880barnhouse

Why is it important to keep small cracks sealed? Because water always wins.

Even the smallest of cracks can get moisture in them and cause issues with foundations and framing if left unmitigated.

With our Rochester winters, that water will freeze and expand and cause the cracks and openings to get bigger. Leaving more space for the process to happen again.

This house has been unmaintained for 10 years, and eventually, the water will win.

What could have been a couple hundred dollar fix 10 years ago has now grown into a $40k fix 😬

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#wateralwayswins #sealednotwalrused #framing #cmu #concrete #foundations #waterpenetration

Improper water mitigation outside a house can lead to multiple issues inside the house.

This house has multiple cracks in the foundation walls, chimney, and evidence of black mold inside the bathroom walls. All that will lead to bigger issues if not property treated. And that could have been avoided if proper drainage and proper sealing had been installed originally, or maintained over the past 70 years of this house's lifespan.

As for the goat infiltration... I'm just a lowly engineer, and that's above my pay grade.

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#wateryougoingtodoaboutit #youcrackmeup #masonry #CMU #reallifegoatsimulator

Wood really is amazing. Yes, it's flammable, but for the girders and main load bearing walls, the outside of the wood chars to protect the inside of the wood, allowing it to hold the loads for people to escape a fire.

And even the floor where the fire occurred had minimal damage on the underside of the flooring. And the floor joists below only had smoke damage. Which can all be salvaged!

Always saddening when a fire happens in a home, but amazing the materials that surround us to keep us protected that we oftentimes don't think about (unless you're a structural engineer 😀)

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#fireguy #charred #woodyoubemyneighbor #smokedamage #salvageable

Home inspection for new hoke owners in Fairport. House is overall in good condition, but found a few things that would have been nice for them to know before closing. Let's play I Spy!

I Spy:

- Wires going into the floor for some reason
- A hidden outdoor brick grill
- Rusted wire conduit
- Homemade ventilation for dryer
- Holes in the wall where little fingers (their kids) can get cut
- Unsecured handrails

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#homeinspections #shesabrickgrill #rusted #holyplumbing #andthatsthewaythefrontstepscrumble #youcrackmeup

I never tire of being out in the field. Beautiful weather and also such a deep joy of seeing simple lines on paper become reality!

Pouring footings for a Veterans Memorial on Seneca Lake.

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#pouringconcrete #formwork #rebar #veterans #canyoudigit

Doing a home inspection for a friend before they list their house for sale. This will help them address any potential issues for future buyer's as well as have a more informative Property Condition Disclosure form. Kind if risky to be this honest about your house, but if I was a buyer, I would appreciate this transparency.

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#homeinspection #youcrackmeupconcrete #oxidizeinyourarmstonight

All it takes is a candle...

Thankfully the homeowner is OK, but always sad to see your possessions and house go up in flames. Fire was only burning for 30 minutes before the fire department put it out.

Did a structural assessment of the existing foundation to see if it could be salvaged. As well as the custom marble fireplace.

Insurance will cover the replacement, but crazy to see what structural elements (mainly wood and drywall) will burn up quickly, and what elements (steel and masonry) look almost unaffected.

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#naples #fire #wood #steel #masonry #marble #house #smokedamage #charredwood

Special inspections performed at CMAC over the last month for their new Headliner VIP tent and deck.

A few issues here and there, but kept the project on schedule and the County inspectors happy.

First concert is tonight!

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#specialinspections #mymomalwayssaidiwasspecial #CMAC #lumineers #concert #ontariocounty #tent #permanenttemporarystructure

A beautiful house on Irondequoit Bay. The only problem with living at the top of a hill is when your retaining wall starts sliding down the hill... 😬

Provided the homeowner 3 options for remediation (wall anchors, selective demolition/ reinforcement, full demo/replacement). I'll let you know if they end up doing the work.

(Or slide down the hill...)

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#rememberslipandslides #theshouldmakeonesforadults #ormaybenot #idprobablybreaksomething #irondequoitbay #retainingwall #idontthinkthestairsarelevel

Huzzah! Follow-up from the squeaky wall post a couple weeks ago. The walls are opened up and sure enough, nails have pulled out, glue separated, and "rigid" portal frame is no longer rigid.

Oh, and the drawings called out for 2 straps at each beam/column connection (8 total) and only 1 was installed at the ends of the middle beam (2 total) 😬

Installing straps, blocking, and screws to fix it for good!

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#wehadtocutoutthecorners #toseethecornerstheycut

From fire damaged A-framed basements to sexily organized Pex log cabin basements. A structural engineer's work is never done!

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#smokeythebearwhereareyou #workingoutthosepex #buttandpasslogcabinstyle #hahabutt

Commercial inspection in the city (St. Paul) walking through with client brainstorming ways to make the space work.

Sawtooth roofs still don't make sense to me other than "how can we concentrate the snow load instead of a distributed load?"

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#sawtoothdecay #commercial #inspection #stpaul #geneseebrewhouseforlunch #1.2M #alreadycomeswithagreenroof

Client has 20 foot tall ceilings in the family room. On cod windy days, he hears "loud creaking and pops" in the walls.

Upon deeper investigation, we see that the main wall is designed as a portal frame (which solely relies on the rigid connections at the girders and columns). But the drawings call out for nails, which tend to pull-out slightly over time, causing the noise we're hearing.

The solution: gotta open up the wall and install some screws and strapping.

He said he has asked over 10 different professionals for advice on the issue, got new siding installed, and still no fix to the issue.

I feel bad that I'll be the last professional he'll have to talk to 😉

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#popitlikeitshot #nailedit #screwthis #woodyoubemyneighbor #portalwasagreatgame

A tree fell on this 1911 house in Letchworth built with lumber from an old barn (1880). Currently being supported with car jacks 😬. I'm thankful that I can find these homes so we can fix them right, but how many did I drive by on the way here that are just as bad or worse?

This house has geothermal heating and cooling! Great to see!

Also, found the Rescue Rangers in the attic 🐿.

Last video is just 2 mins of my drive in the fog.

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#somuchengineering #solittletime #geothermal #chipanddale #leanonme #1911 #1880 #letchworth #notallitscrackeduptobe

The theme this week was "make the kitchen larger" 3 projects where we're taking out the load bearing walls between the kitchen and adjacent room. And a commercial building inspection for a potential buyer. The houses are actually more difficult to inspect.

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#woodntyouagree #loadbearing #kitchenexpansion #followtheloadpath #commercial #inspection #imshoreyouwoodagree

Let's play a game called "what is wrong with each of these pictures."

There is an inspection red flag in each of these photos. Comment if you can find them all. Or comment which photo stumped you.

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#whereswaldo #findthedifference #woodyouhelpme #inspection #youcrackmeup #holeysmokes

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Contact Us

Rochester, NY

JAYCE@sweetdreamsengineering.com

7164910019`

Welcome to
JG Engineering

About Us