When you add this all up, combine it with a low redundancy situation, and add to that the consequences of failure and the likelihood of litigation should it go south, then you can see why I wouldn't attempt this in your shoes.Īll that said, this is definitely just a situation of getting experience with it assuming you're a competent structural engineer. I'm sure I'm leaving out a few other things as well. Finally, as you noted, getting all this information onto a document that communicates you intent is another experience area. Figuring out loads and forces is fairly typical but the trick is knowing all the design checks, impact factors, accidental loadings, and required OSHA (or other jurisdiction's) safety factors that are required. In addition, being able to plan each stage of the lift takes experience.

To expand on my comment some of the biggest issues are understanding how stable (or unstable) something can be when lifted.