Fulcrum Structural Engineering

My architecture firm has been working on a large, highly-​detailed residential project in San Francisco. We have been very impressed with Fulcrum’s approach to the whole project. They are smart and efficient, willing to take suggestions and very thorough with their documents. Their fees were reasonable, especially given the lack of over-​engineering.
I would not hesitate to recommend them to another architect or homeowner.

My wife and I are building a cottage in Sonoma County and we retained Alex Rood of Fulcrum Structural to prepare the structural plans. The structural design is actually quite challenging due to flooding issues at the site which is near the Russian River. Alex has been extremely helpful and responsive to our needs. Difficulty with the foundation installation required a last minute design change. Fulcrum completed the changes quickly and cost effectively thus keeping our project from stalling in mid construction. I am very impressed with this firm and Alex Rood in particular. His creativity helped us solve a difficult design issue early on and he worked extremely well with our architect and contractor.

While I always feel bad about brutalizing a company on Unilocal,Fulcrum really let me down. A combination of lack of responsiveness, misrepresentation, and wasting of my time really puts me off. All said and done, Fulcrum has wasted days of my time and delayed my project by weeks, all which could have been prevented with a simple ‘too busy’ or ‘not interested’.
I am working on a small renovation in my loft and while the project is simple, it doesn’t make it any less important to the city and the HOA that the designs are checked to confirm they are structurally sound and safe.
I contacted Fulcrum based on the Unilocal review. The contact, Alex was slow to respond to phone calls and emails (first warning) though did express interest in the project when he did reply. When we finally did get a meeting set up in his office after two weeks with delays 100% on his side, we reviewed the project plans, requirements, budget, etc. He appeared interested, provided feedback, stated he understood the requirements and offered a not to exceed verbal estimate for the work, which stretched my budget but acceptable. He committed to me a written quote within 48 hours.
Seven business days and multiple phone calls and e-​mails later (second warning), I finally get the written quote, at 35% higher than the ‘not to exceed’ amount and well outside my budget (danger, danger). After multiple e-​mails and phone calls merely requesting the opportunity to review the quote, I have yet to hear back from Fulcrum.
I respect if a company is not interested in the business for whatever reason, but to string a customer along with multiple promises and commitments, only to not follow through is simply bad business. I would steer clear of Fulcrum when there are other possibilities out there.

I recently moved to a new place and found myself in need of a structural engineer for a small project. I Unilocaled it and found that a lot of engineering firms wouldn’t take on such a minor thing. Fortunately I found Alex at Fulcrum who helped me get the original engineering plans for my building from the city and then did the necessary analysis. He was very easy to work with and billing was reasonable.