House Plan Sealing
Purchased plans engineered for your lot and sealed for Texas permit submission — foundation, framing, bracing, and connections.
Learn more →Structural Engineer Licensed in Texas
Texas has no statewide residential building code. None. Every city adopts its own edition, unincorporated county land often has no code enforcement at all, and the coast layers on windstorm certification requirements you won't find anywhere else. It's the most jurisdiction-dependent state we practice in — and the state where confirming the rules before design begins saves homeowners the most money. Oakline designs and seals residential structures across Texas remotely.
★★★★★ 5.0 on Google · 84 verified reviews · Cody Johnston, PE, MBA · TX License #154111
What We Do in Texas
Serving Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, the Hill Country, and the Gulf Coast from Galveston to Corpus Christi. 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 →The Texas rulebook: it depends where you stand
Texas leaves code adoption to individual cities. The major metros run active programs — Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio are generally on the 2021-generation codes with local amendments, with 2024 adoptions rolling through — but each city's amendments differ, and suburbs don't always match their neighbor. Step outside city limits into unincorporated county land and there is frequently no building department and no plan review at all.
No enforcement doesn't mean no engineering. Lenders, insurers, and builders still require engineered foundation and framing design — and in Texas, they have a very specific reason to.
Expansive clay: the state soil of Texas heartbreak
The dominant structural problem in Texas housing isn't wind or snow — it's the ground itself. The clay soils under DFW, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio swell when wet and shrink when dry, moving foundations by inches across seasons. It's why the slab-on-grade foundations of Texas are engineered structures in their own right — post-tensioned or heavily stiffened designs sized from the soil data, not from a generic detail sheet. Foundation engineering isn't a formality in Texas; it's the whole ballgame.
On the coast, add wind: the Texas Department of Insurance designates catastrophe zones along the Gulf where homes need windstorm-compliant design and certification for insurance through TWIA. Corpus Christi, Galveston, and the coastal bend carry design wind speeds and inspection requirements that mainland plan sets never anticipate.
Our Texas work is remote by design: plan sealing for purchased house plans, engineered foundations for expansive soils, beam and framing design for renovations — delivered as sealed drawings your city (or your lender) accepts.
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 and soil conditions — 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 Texas PE license #154111, 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 Texas — license #154111, issued by the Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. Don't take our word for it: verify it with the state board →
Also licensed in six additional states — see all license states.
Texas Questions, Answered
What building code applies to my Texas project?
Whichever your city has adopted — Texas has no statewide residential code. Major metros are generally on 2021-generation codes moving toward 2024, each with local amendments; unincorporated county land often has no review at all. Confirming your jurisdiction is step one of every Texas project we take.
Why do Texas foundations need an engineer?
Expansive clay soils across most Texas metros move seasonally and will crack a generic slab. Engineered foundations — typically post-tensioned or stiffened slabs designed from your lot's soil conditions — are the standard of practice, and lenders and builders expect them even where the county doesn't.
My lot is outside city limits with no permit office. Do I still need sealed plans?
Usually yes, in practice: your lender and insurer will want engineered design, your builder needs buildable structural drawings, and resale is smoother with documented engineering. No permit office just means nobody catches the problems before they are poured in concrete.
Building in Texas?
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