Perth-wide
Independent structural engineers quote your job
Load bearing wall removal in Perth is the job most people ring about, and there's a reason for it. WA is the only state where more than half of detached houses are brick, at 68 per cent, and in a double-brick house some internal walls usually carry the ceiling and roof as well as the external walls. Removing a wall that supports anything else falls outside the building permit exemption, so the engineer's beam design goes in with the permit application. Start with the clues you can check yourself, then read how wall removal engineering works.
Kings Park Structural Co is a referral service, not an engineering firm. We pass your enquiry to an independent structural engineering firm, which pays to advertise here and quotes and contracts with you directly. From 1 July 2027, structural engineering work in WA must be done by a registered building engineer, and you can check anyone on the DEMIRS Building Engineer Register. Engineers quote each job, so our cost guide explains what drives the price instead of inventing one.
The engineer works out what the wall carries and sizes the steel or LVL beam, posts and pad footings that take its place. You get the drawing and certificate your building surveyor needs, and a registered builder does the work.
Learn More →An engineer looks at the cracks, the walls, the slab and footings and tells you in writing what they think is going on. It's a different product from a pre-purchase building inspection, and worth knowing which one you're paying for.
Learn More →Any change to floor area or height needs a building permit, and the builder or building surveyor will usually want engineering to go with it. The engineer designs the structural parts, such as beams, footings and slabs, so the plans can go in.
Learn More →A small pergola or a garden shed can be exempt, but a roofed patio isn't a pergola under WA rules. If yours needs a permit, the engineer provides site-specific drawings and a signed certificate for the application.
Learn More →An engineer, not a building inspector
Plenty of Perth 'structural inspections' are AS 4349.1 pre-purchase reports written by building inspectors. Enquiries here go to a structural engineering firm instead.
Upfront about who pays
The engineering firm pays to advertise on this site. It quotes you and contracts with you directly, so you always know who you're dealing with.
Told when you don't need an engineer
Some jobs are exempt from a permit, and some questions belong with a builder or building surveyor first. The guides here say so, even when it means no job.
WA rules, quoted from the source
Permit fees, decision times and exemptions on this site come from the Building Regulations 2012 and wa.gov.au. The engineer's own fee is quoted per job, not guessed at.
Perth-wide
Independent engineers quote
WA
Walls, cracks, patios
Call or send photos and any plans you have. The engineer asks what you want to change, or what you've noticed and when it started, and tells you whether it sounds like engineering work at all.
Photos and plans are enough for some jobs. Others need the engineer on site, in the roof space or looking at the brickwork, before the scope is pinned down.
You get a written quote setting out the fee and what's included. Once you accept it, the engineer delivers the report, beam design, drawings or certificate the job needs.
The site covers Greater Perth, the Perth Hills and Peel: Joondalup and Wanneroo, the western suburbs and Fremantle, the Perth Hills and eastern suburbs, Cockburn, Melville and Canning, Rockingham and Kwinana and Mandurah and Peel. The ground isn't the same everywhere. Much of central Perth sits on Bassendean Sand, limestone runs along the coast, and the Guildford Formation clay outcrops across much of the eastern region, which is one reason Perth houses crack for different reasons in different places.
There are clues. In a double-brick house some internal walls usually carry the ceiling and roof, and anything in the roof space that lands on the wall is a strong hint. None of that tells you a wall is safe to remove, though. Only an engineer who has looked at the roof, the ceiling and what sits above can say what the wall carries and what beam replaces it, and a registered builder does the actual removal.
Perth engineering firms generally quote per job rather than publishing a price list, because the fee depends on the house, the structure and what the council needs. The engineer looks at your photos or plans first, decides whether a site visit is needed, and then puts the scope and fee in a written quote. Ask whether that fee is incl. or ex GST. Government charges are separate: a certified building permit is 0.19% of the value of the work and an uncertified one 0.32%, both with a $121.00 minimum, and the value is calculated including GST.
Availability and turnaround vary with the engineer's workload, so ask for both and get them in the written proposal. If a crack is getting wider, or doors and windows have started sticking, say so on the first call. Once the engineering is done, the permit authority has 10 business days to decide a certified application and 25 business days for an uncertified one, and the clock stops if it asks you for more information.
CSIRO grades crack damage by width: under 0.1 mm is negligible, under 1 mm very slight, under 5 mm slight, 5 to 15 mm moderate and 15 to 25 mm severe. It says most cracking in masonry walls is a cosmetic nuisance, and also that monitoring cracks should always be taken seriously. Width is only part of the story, and nobody can tell you what your crack means without seeing it, which is what an engineer's inspection is for.
Not always. A freestanding shed of 10 m2 or less and no more than 2.4 m high can be exempt from a permit, as can an unroofed pergola up to 20 m2, provided you're not in wind region C or D. A roofed patio isn't a pergola under WA rules, so it usually needs a permit, and the council or building surveyor will often ask for an engineer's certificate (sometimes called a certificate of structural adequacy or sufficiency).
No. Many reports sold in Perth as structural inspections are AS 4349.1 pre-purchase reports written by building inspectors, and some of those firms say plainly that they don't provide engineering. An engineer's report looks at the walls, roof structure, floors, slab and footings and gives an engineering opinion on what's causing the problem. If you're buying, or in a dispute with a builder or insurer, check which one you're paying for before you book.
Once your enquiry is passed on, the engineer reviews your photos or plans and tells you whether a site visit is needed to scope the job. You then get a written proposal with the fee and what's included, and nothing goes ahead until you accept it.
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