Calvin listened to my concerns carefully over the phone and shared his advice and told me when a site visit is necessary or not. He was very knowledgable of my neighborhood in San Mateo and common problems in the area. He suggested some options to deal with my problem as well. I really appreciated his honest and helpful input. read more

My wife and I are shocked by the lack of professionalism and greed Dominic showed us. Last year, Dominic came to inspect our recently acquired home to give us an assessment for a few structural changes we were interested in making. Specifically, we wanted to remove a wall in the kitchen. Dominic charged us $285 and produced a report stating we are ok to remove the wall in question since the joists run parallel to the wall and therefore the wall is not supporting. A few weeks ago, roughly a year after the original visit, we were finally ready to remove the wall and begun removing the dry-wall. We then found a large beam (header) at the top of the wall which got us concerned this may be a supporting wall after all. We took pictures and and sent them to Dominic, hoping he can easily clarify our inexperienced paranoia to which we got a shocking reply: "I won't answer the question without a visit which will be another $285". We insisted that we think he should stand behind his work, but he wouldn't budge and since we had no choice we agreed for him to visit again for a "discounted" price of $200. On the next visit, a small part of the ceiling was removed and made it possible to look into the ceiling. Dominic came, looked at the beam for a short time, peeked from the ground at the open ceiling area and claimed "The joists run perpendicular to the wall and therefore the beam is supporting, you can't remove it". While disappointed, we were happy we didn't risk the structural integrity of the house and we left it at that. A few days later, in a random thought, I decided to step and take a closer look at the ceiling, getting my head in the opening and looking at all the joists. To my amazement the wood visible just from looking from the ground, was not the joists at all.. The joists appeared to be parallel after all... So again, we reached out to Dominic and explained the situation, at this point we also had the entire ceiling removed so it was clear the joists are parallel but we wanted a professional opinion. Again.. Dominic wouldn't provide an opinion without a $200 charge! For literally 1 minute of looking at the open ceiling. This is a lack of professionalism at the first degree, what professional doesn't stand behind his work like this and squeezes a young couple without options for extra cash based on their own mistakes? Never work with him again. read more

he is extremely knowledgeable and willing to help. we have a project in san mateo that didn't go too well so I called for help. Dominic is very honest and very helpful. We are engaging him for a new project this time. Cannot wait to work with true professional. read more

We needed a time sensitive opinion on the foundation for a property, and in particular needed someone with knowledge of the Los Prados neighborhood in San Mateo, where there's been a lot of settling. Since the property is close to their office, they were nice enough to squeeze in a brief consulting visit to have a look and give us an opinion. Dominic is an excellent listener. He took in the different areas of the property that we showed him, looked at many different places, and waited until he'd seen it all to weigh in. He is clearly a master of his craft, and he was able to give us a sense for what might be going on in the property, and how to think about it. His take on the cause of the problem wasn't what I was expecting, but once he explained it to me, it totally made sense. Interestingly, I had just had a couple of very experienced building inspectors come out to look at the property overall, and note the foundation problems. But they weren't familiar with what was going on in 1960's building practice (who is? Dominic), and so they couldn't quite make sense of it. Dominic was able to explain to us the building practices of the day, why some areas of concrete are slanted and some aren't, and what problem signs to look for. It was wonderful to see that it was "old hat" to him, and he simply knew the answers to many hard to explain observations we saw on the property. He also gave us perspective on the problems we were seeing, that they are widespread throughout this area. I am really grateful to Dominic for finding time to stop by, have a look, and give us his take. For the expertise, perspective, and peace of mind, it was money well spent. One piece of advice for anyone who is considering buying property, and knows that they'll need a structural inspection: call at least 4 weeks before you think you'll need the inspection. I called several structural engineers and everyone is scheduling out that far in advance. I had no idea. read more

Pretty bad. Glad I read previous reviews as his play-book has not changed. Came, looked, said he is too busy and does not have time, but can draw a sketch. This what he does. Will draw on a napkin and charge you like crazy. Do not fall for this. He might of been a legitimate engineer in the past, but I guess easy money is better than hard work and long hours. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this guy. read more

When my dad was re-doing his backyard, it involved replacing a deck and a retaining wall. He hired Dominic Chu to take care of all the engineering work. That was at least a decade ago, and the work has been holding up just fine ever since then! So fast forward to now -- my front yard had a retaining wall that was starting to lean over. My dad recommended Dominic, so we gave him a call and set up a time for him to come by and take a look. He took some measurements and some notes, and then I got a call when the drawings were ready to pick up! Turns out, picking Dominic was the easiest part of the construction project. Finding a good contractor, well, that's another story! Dominic is licensed with the CA Board of Professional Engineers. He seemed very easy to get a hold of, and he had plenty of helpful suggestions. During construction, our contractor did notice one aspect of the drawing that didn't quite line up, but the intent was pretty clear, so it didn't cause us any grief. I'm sure if we needed to get anything fixed or changed, Dominic would have been very helpful. While getting engineering drawings done wasn't exactly cheap, it was probably only 5-10% of the total project cost. Well worth it to know that my retaining wall will be holding strong for as long as I'm living in my house! (...plus, the city of Belmont requires official, engineered drawings for retaining walls over 4 feet tall.) read more

Close to useless. He came to my house and charged me money. He refused to go in any of the crawl spaces to look at the foundation. He gave me a piece of crumpled up paper with some chicken scratch drawings that cant be used for anything. He told me he would follow up with me in two days with a referral for another type of professional. No word. He may have been the top dog in prior years. But now he just wants you to pay him and not have to do any work. read more

Be careful if you choose to work with Dominic Chu! We were very disappointed with him, based on his lack of follow through. You see, we have an older home, and wanted professional advice to make it safer in case of an earthquake. We'd spoken to a few contractors who told us that they would need plans from a structural engineering in order to make improvements. Mr. Chu charged us $185 to come to our house, walk through, make an assessment of our home, and give us a proposal telling us what it would cost for him to provide us with structural engineering plans. This turned out to be a total waste of our time, and we might as well have burned the $185 we paid him. Our problems with Mr. Chu began when he presented us with his proposal, and it came with what we felt was a very one-sided legal contract. While we had issues with several of the terms in the legal contract, we narrowed our focus to the one issue that we thought was the most important and we brought it to Mr. Chu's attention. His response was to immediately terminate his proposal because he was suddenly "overloaded with work at this moment". REALLY???? Here was our issue, so you can judge for yourself whether what we were asking for was fair. The contract said that if we postponed the work under the contract indefinitely, he could demand that we pay him for his work so far and terminate the contract. Fair enough. In return, we asked that if he postponed the work under the contract indefinitely, he would return the $500 deposit to us and we could terminate the contract. Apparently, that was asking too much! Many professionals offer free estimates for the work they propose to do. If the estimate isn't free, one would like to believe that the professional would be willing and available to do the work proposed, and not thrown off by a reasonable question about the legal terms. What a huge disappointment!!!! read more

I am in the process of purchasing a property with foundational concern. I brought Dominic out for an evaluation and he did an excellent job analysing the cause of settlement and providing me with recommendation for correciton that wouldn't cost me an arm and a leg. Dominic is sincere, honest, and most of all very professional at what he does. read more

Dominic Chu did the structural design work for our first story, balcony upgrade. We went from a somewhat feeble, two vertical posts to a large single horizontal beam for support. He provided excellent load calculations, design and drawings. We could work directly off his drawings with builders. The project was a success. It sailed through permit approval and sign off, because the design went beyond basic building code. His fees are very reasonable, because he does not have unnecessary overhead. I would highly recommend him. His engineering was spot on! read more

My buyers were concerned about purchasing a property on a seismic liquefaction zone and wanted to learn more about building codes back in the 80's and 90's. Gave Dominic a call, he was immediately available to answer our questions regarding structural and building code back in the days. He spent a good 10 mins talking to us over the phone, we got all the answers and did not feel rushed at all. He was very friendly, knowledgeable and to the point. Mind you that we were not paying clients, I can only imagine the quality of service he provides to his paying clients. Thanks Dominic! read more

I was looking to purchase a house and found Dominic on Yelp. I had 2 hours left before I had to make a go no-go decision and the removal of a wall was the final toss up. I called Dominic, he was about to head out for a long vacation. Despite having one foot on the airplane to his paradise getaway Dominic was able to talk me through what I had to check, where to get my information and give me most likely scenarios of what I was looking at just through my description of the property age of home, location, etc. Super helpful and didn't even expect me to do business with him! I look forward to hiring him to help with my project when he returns! read more

Dominic has been very generous with his time and knowledge. He came out for a consultation, and since then, has been a great listener and free with his advice. He is a gem and I'm very grateful to him. read more

I didn't know Dominic Chu until I started my remodeling plan last year, after 10 months working with him and his staff, I found he is very professional,honest and sincere . He will go up to the attic even when it was steaming hot without complain. If I called him for a question re his plan, he always call me back in a timely fashion either talk to me or my carpenter if I didn't understand it. I have lived in San Mateo county for over 30 years,remodeled 2 houses, I have seen my former architect became arrogant after he became well known. I am totally confident he is working for me. read more

Dominic and his team has been working with us from the beginning of our remodel. Since our home has multi levels, we wanted to understand what options we had for opening walls and replacing stairs. We were not getting straight answers from the contractors on methods or costs. Dominic was able to quickly show us what was cost effective and practical. He also made himself available on short notice. I really appreciate his professionalism and his attention to detail. He is reasonably priced. Dominic is also well respected by the permit technicians. The clarity of his drawings certainly helped expedite our permits. He was by far one of the most important members of our construction team. read more

I was very happy to have found Dominic Chu. He came highly recommended by a designer I work with in the trades. Before learning of him I had made 2 calls to other engineers and they were a week or more out, their charges were questionable for what was being asked of them. We happened to be in a RUSH and were fortunate because Dominic came out the next day (June 2012). We were in the middle of a total gut of a Kitchen/Breakfast RM when we came across some questionable past work overhead. He came in and relieved us of these worries immediately by doing a walk through that took less then 25mins. When setting up the appointment with his office we were told drawings would be extra. However Dominic was so nice to do a sketch for our contractor to follow and told us to offer it to the city if needed. He said he offered us this because our walk through took way less then the minimum 2 hours scheduled. Not only is he a smart guy, he is full of information, honest and a very nice guy. I would use him again an again as needed since I have now caught the renovation bug. read more

We've used Dominic for several years for projects throughout our remodel. He has suggested practical applications that we've not thought of, and just gives us options. He's fast, reliable, and affordable. We'd had several bad experiences with structural engineers, so we were just so happy to have had him recommended to us. He has helped with wall removal, load calculations for foundation, deck work, skylight installation, exterior siding load... We cannot recommend him enough. read more