A Passed Inspection Is Not the Same as a Sound Structure
By Cody Johnston, PE, MBA · · 2 min read · in the news · expert witness · forensic engineering · homeowners
ABC-11’s Troubleshooter team reported on a case I worked as the independent structural expert. Here’s the lesson worth taking from it — with the specifics left out.
▶ Watch the ABC-11 Troubleshooter segment »
A newly built home. Every required local inspection, passed. And still — significant structural code violations, serious enough to matter.
That combination surprises people, because most of us assume a passed inspection means a sound structure. It doesn’t. I served as the independent structural expert on a case exactly like this, and it’s a clear illustration of a gap worth understanding whether you’re buying, building, or advising someone who is.
Why a home can pass inspection and still have problems
A code inspection is a valuable check. But it’s a snapshot, not a guarantee.
Inspections are typically visual, scheduled at specific stages, and scoped to confirm that what’s visible at that moment meets code minimums. An inspector isn’t re-engineering the house or verifying every concealed connection, every piece of reinforcement, and every load path from roof to footing. Once framing is closed up and finishes go on, the things that matter most structurally are no longer visible to anyone.
So a home can move through every inspection, receive every approval, and still contain conditions that a focused structural review would flag.
What an independent structural review actually does
This is different work. An independent structural evaluation looks at the evidence — drawings, photos, reports, field observations, and where needed a site visit — and forms an engineering opinion based on what the structure actually is, not on who’s paying for the opinion.
That independence is the point. In a dispute, the value of an engineer’s opinion is that it holds up precisely because it isn’t advocacy. It’s the same evidence-first approach whether the finding helps the person who hired us or not.
Standing behind it
In this case, that work went all the way to the courtroom. I was admitted as an expert witness by the North Carolina Superior Court, District 18, and testified as the independent structural expert.
Most matters never reach that point — they resolve once both sides are looking at the same credible engineering. But being able to carry an opinion through to testimony, professionally and defensibly, is a large part of what makes an independent review worth having in the first place.
The takeaway for buyers, owners, and attorneys
A passed inspection tells you the visible work met code at the moment it was checked. It does not tell you the structure is sound.
If you’re buying a home, building one, or facing a dispute where the structure itself is in question, an independent structural review is how you find out what’s really there. A clean inspection history is a starting point — not the final word.
Oakline Structural Engineering provides forensic structural evaluations and expert-witness and litigation support alongside our residential design work, licensed across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Kentucky, and Alabama.
Facing a construction-defect or structural-integrity question? Talk to the engineer or contact us — you’ll speak with the PE directly.
