Independent structural engineers for Victorian property owners
Structura inspects buildings where something has cracked, moved, leaked or been built badly, and tells you what caused it, whether it is still moving, and what work is actually required. Every inspection is carried out by a chartered engineer, every report is signed by the engineer who attended, and we do no repair work — so there is nothing for us to sell you at the end of it.
Who we are
Structura Engineering Inspections was built around one idea: property owners deserve a straight answer from the person qualified to give it. We work across Victoria from offices in Geelong and South Melbourne, inspecting homes, units, townhouses and small commercial buildings for homeowners, buyers, builders, insurers and lawyers. Our work ranges from a 20-minute verbal opinion before an auction to a formal expert witness report that has to hold up under cross-examination at VCAT.
Engineer-led, start to finish
The person on your roof is the person who signs the report. We do not subcontract inspections to building inspectors or draftspeople.
Independent by design
We do not carry out repairs, underpinning or remedial works. There is nothing for us to sell you at the end of the report.
Victoria-wide coverage
Based in Geelong and South Melbourne, working across metropolitan Melbourne, the Bellarine, Geelong and regional Victoria.
Every client type
Homeowners, buyers, builders, owners corporations, insurers and legal practitioners. Roughly the same building, very different questions.
The Engineers who do the work
No call centre and no subcontracted inspectors. You deal with the engineer who attends your property and writes your report.
Brad Magocha
Director & Chartered Structural Engineer
CPEng, NER, APEC Engineer, IntPE(Aus)
Brad leads every technical matter at Structura and signs the reports. Over 10 years assessing cracking, footing movement and construction defects in Victorian homes and small commercial buildings.
Expertise: Structural damage diagnosis, footing and settlement movement, expert witness reports for VCAT and DBDRV, pre-purchase structural assessment.
Coverage: Metropolitan Melbourne, Geelong, the Bellarine and regional Victoria.
Warren Nguyen
Structural Engineer
Warren is a Structural Engineer specialising in residential structural inspections, assessment and design. He works closely with senior engineers to investigate structural issues, assess existing buildings and develop practical engineering solutions for residential properties.
Expertise: Residential structural inspections, structural damage assessment, structural verification, footing and foundation assessment, framing and roof structures, retaining walls, floor movement and crack assessment, and remedial structural solutions.
Coverage: Residential structural engineering, building inspections, existing structure assessments, structural design and remedial engineering.
The person who answers when you call
Booking an inspection, chasing a report, or asking where a job is up to — you deal with someone who knows your file, not a ticketing system.
Kat
Administrative & Client Support
BS Nursing | 10+ years in the BPO industry | 8 years as a virtual assistant
Kat handles email, phone enquiries, scheduling and day-to-day administration for Structura Engineering Inspections. She has supported businesses across a range of industries, and brings an organised, detail-focused approach to keeping inspections booked, questions answered and reports moving.
Areas of expertise: Email management and enquiry response, customer service, calendar and schedule coordination, and general administrative support.
What makes Structura different
Most structural problems are not urgent and most are not catastrophic. The value of an engineer is knowing which ones are.
A diagnosis, not a defect list
A building inspector records what they can see. An engineer works out why it is happening, whether it is still moving, and what it will do next. That is the difference between a list of cracks and an answer.
Proportionate recommendations
If a crack needs monitoring rather than underpinning, the report says so. We have watched owners spend tens of thousands on remedial work that a monitoring period would have ruled out.
Plain English, engineer-certified
Reports are written to be read by the person paying for them, not only by other engineers. They still carry the certification councils, insurers and VCAT require.
Answers at the speed decisions need
Verbal advice inside 48 hours where a contract or auction is involved. Written reports within 10–12 business days, and usually sooner.
How we decide what goes in a report
Find the cause, then the fix
Symptoms are easy to photograph. Cause takes measurement, site history, soil behaviour and judgement. Treat the symptom alone and the same crack returns in two years.
Recommend only what the building needs
Our advice does not change based on what work is available at the end of it. The cheapest honest answer is often monitoring, and we are willing to give it.
Stand behind every report
Each report carries the name and registration of the engineer who wrote it. If it reaches a tribunal, that engineer defends it. Where access limits an assessment, we say so plainly.
Registered, insured and accountable for every report
Structural advice is only worth what the qualifications behind it are worth. Ours are on the public record.
Our Experience
The matters we are called into most often, and what each one usually turns on.
Cracking, settlement and footing movement
Reactive clay soils, drainage failures, tree root influence and inadequate footings. The question is almost always whether movement has stabilised or is ongoing.
Pre-purchase assessments
Buyers who need to know what they are taking on before contracts are signed, often at short notice and often before an auction.
Disputes, insurance and VCAT
Expert witness reports, insurance claim assessments and building disputes where the report has to survive scrutiny from the other side.
Construction stage and dilapidation
QA inspections at slab, frame and lock-up for builders and owner builders, and pre-construction condition surveys that protect against neighbour damage claims.
The standards every Structura report is written to
Structural opinions carry weight because of the framework behind them. These are the rules we work to on every job, and the limits we state up front.
Cracking and footing movement assessed against AS 2870, masonry against AS 3700, timber framing against AS 1684, and inspection scope against AS 4349.1. Findings are referenced to the applicable clause, not to opinion alone.
The engineer who inspects the property writes and signs the report. No subcontracted inspectors, no ghost-written findings, no unnamed author.
We work under the Engineers Australia Code of Ethics and Guidelines on Professional Conduct, which requires us to act in the public interest and to give advice we can defend independently of who is paying for it.
Reports prepared for VCAT and DBDRV are written to the Tribunal’s expert evidence requirements, including the expert’s duty to the Tribunal, a statement of the questions asked, and disclosure of the facts and assumptions relied on.
Inspections are non-invasive and visual unless destructive testing is separately agreed. Every report states what was inspected, what was not accessible, and what the findings do and do not establish.
We do not quote, tender for or carry out repairs, underpinning or remedial works, and we take no referral fee from anyone who does. The recommendation is the same regardless of who reads it.
Structura Engineering Inspections holds current professional indemnity insurance and public liability insurance for all inspection, assessment and expert witness work. Certificates of currency are available on request and can be provided to insurers, solicitors, owners corporations or builders before an inspection is booked.