What Is a Site Inspection — and Who Requires It?
A site inspection in Ontario is a review by a qualified professional — typically a licensed engineer (P.Eng.) — of the constructed work on the ground, checking that it matches the approved, engineered drawings and code requirements at key milestones. It's a different role from the municipal building inspector: the municipality checks the building for code and permit compliance, while the engineer of record inspects the structural work they designed.
For most engineered structures — footings, foundations, retaining walls, beams, moment frames, post-tensioned slabs — the municipality will not close out the permit without the engineer's issued inspection letters confirming the structural work was built as designed. The permit condition explicitly names the P.Eng.
“The municipality checks for code and permit compliance. The engineer of record checks that the structure you paid to design is actually what got built.”
Footings & Foundations
Rebar placement, depth, and concrete pour before placement.
Underslab & Waterproofing
Vapour barrier, insulation, drainage prior to slab pour.
Structural Framing
Beams, columns, connections, and anchor bolts before concealment.
Retaining Walls & Shoring
Backfill pressure systems and tieback installation.
The "Hidden Work" Inspections That Matter Most
The inspections that catch real defects are the ones happening before the work is covered up. Once concrete is poured over a misaligned rebar cage, or a vapour barrier is buried under a slab, the defect is latent — invisible, undiagnosed, and expensive.
The classic sequence on an engineered footing: the engineer inspects the excavation and forms, then the reinforcing steel, then witnesses the concrete pour — each before the next step hides the last. Miss the rebar inspection and you pour, cure, and find out later the slab didn't have the top mat the drawing specified. That's a core-out, a slab replacement, or a structural deficiency letter — none of them cheap.
What an Engineer Actually Checks on Site
Conformance to the stamped drawings
Member sizes, spacing, embedment, connection patterns — physically measured and verified against the issued-for-construction set.
Rebar and reinforcing
Bar size, grade, spacing, laps, and cover — before concrete placement, where correction is still possible.
Anchor bolts and embedded items
Location, projection, and alignment relative to the structural steel that will bear on them.
Concrete and material condition
Cylinder tests, slump, curing, and finishing against spec — and that unsupported, honeycombed, or cracking concrete is flagged.
Backfill, drainage, and waterproofing
The water-management system that protects the foundation and can't be seen after backfill.
Construction Management & the Inspection Schedule
Inspections don't just happen — they're part of a construction management program. A good construction manager keys each inspection to a construction milestone, calls the engineer into the field at the right moment, and documents the result so the permit close-out pack is complete when the work is done. That coordination is where May Engineering Inc's site inspection and construction management services connect: we know which inspection every municipality needs, we get the engineer on site at the right time, and we keep the deficiency list short because we catch problems at the right moment.
Planning an engineered project in Ontario? Our construction management & site inspection services schedule the inspections before you pour — the cheapest inspection is the one that happens at the right milestone. Request a quote.
Engineered work going in on your site?
May Engineering Inc provides construction management and site inspection across Ontario — scheduled at the milestones that keep your permit open and your structure sound.
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