Open-concept living has probably generated more structural engineering work than any building code change of the last thirty years. Removing a load-bearing wall is routine work — but "routine" doesn't mean "trivial," and the difference between a good job and a future problem is mostly in the details nobody sees.
It's never just the beam
Homeowners tend to focus on the beam that replaces the wall. Fair enough — but the beam is often the easy part. The real engineering is in the load path below it: the posts at each end, the blocking through the floor system, and ultimately the footing that carries everything to the soil. A perfectly sized beam sitting on an undersized point load path will telegraph problems through your floors for years.
Flush or dropped?
A dropped beam below the ceiling is simpler and cheaper. A flush beam hidden within the floor joists gives you the clean ceiling — at the cost of joist hangers, more labour, and sometimes a steel section where wood won't fit the depth. Neither is "better"; it's a trade between budget and finish, and we'll lay out both options with real numbers.
What the permit process looks like
In Ontario, this work needs a building permit, and the municipality will want sealed drawings or a sealed letter from a professional engineer. Our usual process: a site visit to confirm what's actually holding what (framing rarely matches assumptions), a design with beam, posts, and footing checks, and sealed drawings your contractor submits with the permit application. For a typical wall removal, that's days, not weeks.
One last tip: open the wall after the engineering, not before. Discovering plumbing stacks and ductwork mid-demolition is the most common budget surprise in this kind of work.