I paid $2,800 for a stamped structural inspection with engineering recommendations. James Cramer was on site under 10 minutes, took a few photos, and left--no floor elevation survey, no crack-width measurements, no wall-plumbness checks, no moisture probing, no borings/test pits, and no test-pile torque data. He didn't even inspect the foundation but is making foundation recommendations! The document I later obtained (I did not receive it directly; I saw a screenshot claiming an email was sent and eventually got a copy through my card dispute) was basically a photo log that recommended full-perimeter helical underpinning ~8 ft on center to 15-20 ft depth. There were no calculations, no soil/torque criteria, no load take-offs, and no permit-ready drawings. It also pushed an $8,000 upsell for "permit plans." In my opinion: this is a do-not-use situation and a poorly run business. My experience felt scam-like and aligns with other public reviews I've seen. I should of checked the reviews first but was a referral with a * stating I have not used them before. I will make sure to let them know do not recommend again. read more

I paid Jim Cramer $3500.00 two years ago for an expert testimony report for a court case involving over-demolition and poor restoration of my home. Because of the time it took to get information from discovery in my case, he has no interest in properly completing the job. All I got is a worthless draft from someone else in his office. So I rewrote the report and sent it back asking Jim Cramer to review it as though he wrote it based on my documentation, pictures and descriptions. He replied with "Yes approved". I sent the report I wrote to my attorney who sent back his marked-up version indicating a lot of missing information. I told Jim Cramer I have the mark-up and it needed a lot of work. I emailed it to him to review and be prepare. I asked him to come to my house to go over documentation and pictures to make everything accurate. He said he would the next week. He did not show up. I got another version of the report via email from the office assistant. It did not address any of the issues in the mark-up. She just deleted some of it. I responded and said as much. I suggested Jim Cramer needed to find a engineering report on Victorian era homes so that he could cite it as a resource. She replied she is not qualified to write such a report and resigned from my project. I have had a very difficult time communicating with Jim Cramer. He doesn't answer or return my calls. He has made several appointments and not shown up. He has flat out lied to me many times. I told him that I have gotten nothing of any value from him and I have no confidence in him. He is irresponsible, incompetent and I do not want him involved in my court case. I want a full refund as I have already wasted money having my attorney review a report that I had to write. He has texted me and says he will give me a full refund as soon as the money is available. I have gotten nothing but more lies and delays. I have all of the emails, report drafts and text messages to prove it. read more

Quoted $900 to come out for a structural assessment of a 1400sqft home (flat residential fee) in Cleveland Hts we want to buy and spent nearly the entire time trying to convert everyone to Christianity as a born-again Christian. Found out later Cramer is known to have this reputation among other structural engineers. Jim Cramer spent 5-10 min looking over the house before being ushered out by our real estate agent. HVAC service guy who overhead everything thought he was nuts as well. Paid him nothing and asked him to keep his report to himself. In hindsight, I could have done without cursing him off on the phone but felt as if we were scammed. Had another structural engineer Michael with Synergy come a couple hours later who spent over 30 min taking photos and measurements; he was given $375 and thought the $900 was absurd. Call em if you want your septic tank baptized. read more

Kyle Richardson showed up on time to do a structural analysis of my single family ranch home in Fairview Park. My goal was to remove one load bearing wall to obtain an open concept for the kitchen and living areas. I presented the drawing to my city building department for review. It was approved and construction commenced. However, when the contractor got into the project it was discovered the entire load of my house was sitting on a glass block window in my basement. Further, the pitch of the beam submitted on the drawing was inaccurate as it did not depict the fact that the roof was a "hip" roof. When the City Inspector showed up, he looked everything over and issued a stop work order because the print did not match the actual structure of the home. When I contacted Cramer Engineering, I was told it would cost me $450 for an "adminstration fee" to make the necessary correction. I paid $1300 and did not get what I paid for. When I refused to pay the requested amount, I was told that's just how it's done. As of this writing I am awaiting another engineering firm's review to correct what Cramer did. THIS WAS unnecessary money I had to spend. I expressed in a VM that I am a retired senior living in a freezing home with my ceiling exposed and I gave in and said I would pay their fee. My telephone calls went unanswered, texts, etc. My plan is to file a complaint with the BBB as well as informing the governing body for licensing of engineers. This oversight could have caused my home to cave in...for which they signed off on! I was actually saving them from a huge professional embarrassment. DO NOT HIRE THIS FIRM! THERE ARE OTHERS OUT THERE WHO CARE ABOUT THEIR CLIENTS. RUN! RUN! RUN! read more