House Plan Sealing
Purchased plans engineered for your lot and sealed for Tennessee permit submission — foundation, framing, bracing, and connections.
Learn more →Structural Engineer Licensed in Tennessee
Tennessee is the state where the first engineering question isn't about your house — it's about your address. The statewide baseline is the 2018 IRC, but cities adopt their own editions independently: Nashville reviews against newer codes than the state, while some rural counties barely review at all. Oakline confirms exactly which code your jurisdiction enforces before design begins, then delivers sealed structural drawings built to pass that specific review.
★★★★★ 5.0 on Google · 84 verified reviews · Cody Johnston, PE, MBA · TN License #130921
What We Do in Tennessee
Serving Nashville, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Knoxville, Chattanooga, the Tri-Cities, Memphis, and the Smokies foothills. Every project is personally engineered by Cody Johnston, PE, MBA — one engineer, no hand-offs, and drawings your builder can actually build from.
Foundation Design
Footings, slabs, piers, and walls designed from your site conditions — not a generic detail sheet.
Beam & Framing Design
LVL, steel, and engineered-lumber sizing for renovations, wall removals, and "beam by others" notes on your plans.
Learn more →Additions & ADUs
Structural design that ties new construction into your existing home correctly.
Learn more →One state, many codes: how Tennessee adoption works
Tennessee's statewide residential baseline is the 2018 IRC, administered by the State Fire Marshal's Office for areas without their own program. But Tennessee lets municipalities opt out and run their own adoptions — and the big ones do. Metro Nashville has moved to the 2024-generation codes; Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Memphis each maintain their own editions and amendments. Two building lots thirty minutes apart can be reviewed under codes six years apart.
For a homeowner, that means the code question has to be answered first, not last. A plan set engineered to the wrong edition can bounce at intake. Confirming the jurisdiction's adopted code — and its local amendments — is step one of every Tennessee project we take, and we put the governing code right on the drawings so the reviewer sees it immediately.
Mountains on one end, an earthquake zone on the other
East Tennessee — Knoxville, the Tri-Cities, the Smokies foothills — brings real snow loads and steep-slope foundation conditions: tall walkout basements, retaining walls, and homes stepping down mountainsides. These are engineered-design conditions almost by definition.
West Tennessee is the opposite surprise: Memphis sits beside the New Madrid seismic zone, one of the most significant earthquake source regions in the central United States. Seismic detailing there — bracing, hold-downs, foundation connections — is a genuine design driver that plans from elsewhere in the state simply ignore.
And Middle Tennessee, from Nashville through Murfreesboro and Franklin, is one of the fastest-growing housing markets in the country — which means a steady stream of purchased house plans that need structural design and sealing to clear Metro and county review.
How Remote Engineering Works
- 1.
Send your plans. Upload your plan set through our site — any size, straight to our secure project drive. Cody reviews them personally, for free, and comes back with straight advice and a firm price, usually within a day or two.
- 2.
We engineer to your jurisdiction. Foundation, framing, bracing, and connections designed for your specific lot — with the governing code edition noted right on the drawings so your reviewer sees it immediately.
- 3.
You get sealed drawings. Digitally sealed PDFs under Tennessee PE license #130921, ready for permit submission — and Cody stays available to answer reviewer or builder questions after delivery. Most plan sealing projects finish within 2 weeks.
Verify the License
Cody Johnston is a licensed Professional Engineer in Tennessee — license #130921, issued by the Tennessee Board of Architectural and Engineering Examiners. Don't take our word for it: verify it with the state board →
Also licensed in six additional states — see all license states.
Tennessee Questions, Answered
Which building code applies to my Tennessee project?
It depends on your city or county. The statewide baseline is the 2018 IRC, but municipalities adopt independently — Nashville is on newer editions. We confirm your jurisdiction's adopted code and amendments before any design work starts.
Does Memphis really require earthquake design?
The Memphis area sits near the New Madrid seismic zone, and codes there carry meaningful seismic design requirements for homes — bracing layouts, hold-downs, and foundation detailing all respond to it. It is one of the strongest reasons to have a licensed engineer on a West Tennessee project.
Can you handle a mountain build near the Smokies?
Yes. Snow loads, steep-slope foundations, and tall retaining conditions are standard engineered-design territory. We design remotely and seal for your local jurisdiction.
Building in Tennessee?
Cody personally reviews your plans — flagging structural issues, finding ways to save on your build, and giving straight advice for the right foundation and framing choices specific for your lot. Free, no obligation, and he can also give you a firm engineering price in a day or two.
Have an Engineer Review My Plans — Free