Serving Sumner & Pierce County
What local homeowners hire us for
- Structural inspections & site visits: cracks, sagging, settlement, damage, or an engineer's opinion before you buy or remodel
- Load-bearing wall removal: beam design and stamped details to open up your floor plan
- Home additions: bump-outs, primary suites, and second stories
- ADUs and backyard cottages: structural drawings for detached and attached units
- Foundations: repair design and new foundations
- Pre-purchase assessments: an engineer's look when your home inspector flags a structural item
- Stamped plans & calcs for permit: engineering for plans someone else drew, or answers to city corrections
- Small-site civil: drainage, stormwater, and grading for residential lots
Why a local engineer matters
Building in the Puget Sound region comes with its own conditions. We're in a high seismic zone, valley soils near the Puyallup and White rivers behave differently than glacial till up on the plateaus, and wet winters put drainage and crawlspaces under stress. Each local building department has its own submittal expectations: the City of Sumner, the City of Puyallup, Tacoma, Auburn, Bonney Lake, and Pierce County Planning & Public Works for unincorporated areas. Working close to home means we can get to your site, know what the reviewers ask for, and answer quickly when they do.
How to get started
- Call (253) 319-3220 or send photos and any plans through our contact form.
- Choose a consultation or site visit: a 30-minute phone/Zoom call, a verbal site visit, or a site visit with a written report (book online).
- Get a written proposal before any design work begins.
A local family of building services
Our Sumner office is also home to affiliated companies that handle the parts of a project an engineer doesn't: Build Sherpas (drafting, permits, and energy code paperwork) and WA Blower Door (third-party energy code air leakage testing). Use what you need. Each one stands on its own.
Frequently asked questions
- Where are you located? 16202 64th St E, Suite 117, Sumner, WA 98390. Office visits are by appointment.
- Do you charge for travel? Site visits in our standard service area are at the standard rate. Farther locations add a travel charge, and island sites add a ferry charge. You'll see the details when you book.
- Do you work only on homes? Residential work is our focus. We also take light commercial, forensic and litigation support, and construction administration projects.
- How do I send plans? Attach them to the contact form or email office@dowengineeringpllc.com.
Book a Site Visit · Send Us Your Plans · (253) 319-3220 · office@dowengineeringpllc.com
