Roof trusses are one of construction's great efficiencies: factory-built, precisely engineered components that frame a roof in a day. So why does your building department want an engineer to review and stamp the truss shop drawings? Because the truss supplier engineers the trusses — not your building.
The gap between the truss and the house
A truss manufacturer designs each truss to carry the loads you tell them, assuming support conditions you tell them. What their engineering doesn't cover: whether your walls and beams can actually deliver those support conditions, whether the girder truss reactions overload a header, whether uplift connections match the design, and whether the loading assumptions fit your actual snow, ceiling, and mechanical loads. That coordination is the building engineer's job.
What a truss review actually checks
When we review a truss package, we're confirming the truss layout matches the structural drawings, reactions are traced into the supporting structure, bearing lengths are adequate, permanent bracing is specified, and any field repairs or modifications have engineered details. Then we stamp the review so your building department can close that loop in the permit file.
The truss plant engineered the triangle. Someone still has to engineer what the triangle lands on.
When this matters most
Simple rectangular roofs rarely surprise anyone. The projects where truss review earns its keep: girder trusses collecting half a roof onto one wall, trusses bearing on beams instead of walls, hip and valley packages, and any truss that gets cut or damaged on site — which needs an engineered repair, not a plywood gusset and optimism. If your building department has asked for a truss review and stamp, send us the shop drawings; it's usually a fast turnaround.