Structural Engineer fees

[Smallfry]

We had drawings done for our house extension done in 2016. Consists of a semi underground garage, with large lounge/diner/lobby above. House is on a hillside, so the garage is a three sided wedge, which will be retaining walls.

Originally designed and drawn with wooden joists as garage ceiling/lounge floor (might change to beam and block) and traditional hipped roof joint to existing building, which is sideways on, so roof will form a tee.

Anyway, long story short, on presenting plans to building control, structural specs are not up to snuff. Original Architect has now retired and moved overseas, so have had to pass drawings over to a Structural Engineer to specify.

Have got the quote today, and I am still reeling from the shock

Anyone have any recent experience of them, the fees seem rather excessive to me, at just under 8 gee gees.
.

 

[gaz1]

you are facing a few things

garage being done with the house ( its kinda a big ooh ahhh gritted teeth scene ) seperate and its a different matter

hipped roof is still the same

your foundations maybe the issue

but the insulation is a major issue all got to up to code highest rated r value and that goes for your walls as well

 

[8ob]

We had drawings done for our house extension done in 2016. Consists of a semi underground garage, with large lounge/diner/lobby above. House is on a hillside, so the garage is a three sided wedge, which will be retaining walls.

Originally designed and drawn with wooden joists as garage ceiling/lounge floor (might change to beam and block) and traditional hipped roof joint to existing building, which is sideways on, so roof will form a tee.

Anyway, long story short, on presenting plans to building control, structural specs are not up to snuff. Original Architect has now retired and moved overseas, so have had to pass drawings over to a Structural Engineer to specify.

Have got the quote today, and I am still reeling from the shock

Anyone have any recent experience of them, the fees seem rather excessive to me, at just under 8 gee gees.
.

It will pay you to speak to building control and get a structural engineer off their approved list. If the engineer you choose is not on their list they send the drawings off and have them checked by others.( more expense)

Bob

 

[More Amps]

If in doubt, shop around. I've seen quotes vary for the same job by 400% with the only explanation being that they were looking at different ways of doing the same job. I went with the cheapest one and had zero problems when it came to getting everything signed off.

 

[JOEPRO]

We had drawings done for our house extension done in 2016. Consists of a semi underground garage, with large lounge/diner/lobby above. House is on a hillside, so the garage is a three sided wedge, which will be retaining walls.

Originally designed and drawn with wooden joists as garage ceiling/lounge floor (might change to beam and block) and traditional hipped roof joint to existing building, which is sideways on, so roof will form a tee.

Anyway, long story short, on presenting plans to building control, structural specs are not up to snuff. Original Architect has now retired and moved overseas, so have had to pass drawings over to a Structural Engineer to specify.

Have got the quote today, and I am still reeling from the shock

Anyone have any recent experience of them, the fees seem rather excessive to me, at just under 8 gee gees.
.

Get more quotes. Then you know where you stand. Ask friends and family for recommendations on what engineers they have used before too.

 

[addjunkie]

If in doubt, shop around. I've seen quotes vary for the same job by 400% with the only explanation being that they were looking at different ways of doing the same job. I went with the cheapest one and had had zero problems when it came to getting everything signed off.

I agree shop around….they vary a fair bit, but in your case he's starting from scratch rather than with an architect.

 

[Smallfry]

you are facing a few things

garage being done with the house ( its kinda a big ooh ahhh gritted teeth scene ) seperate and its a different matter

hipped roof is still the same

your foundations maybe the issue

but the insulation is a major issue all got to up to code highest rated r value and that goes for your walls as well

The place is on solid virgin chalk, so foundations will not be a problem. I take the drawings as minimum spec anyway. More is better !

Insulation is not the structural engineers remit at all and neither is damp proofing or drainage apparently.

 

[Smallfry]

It will pay you to speak to building control and get a structural engineer off their approved list. If the engineer you choose is not on their list they send the drawings off and have them checked by others.( more expense)

Bob

When I was there, I asked if they had any recommendations in that regard, and they said no. While I understand why (brown envelopes) they didn't offer an approved list either. I will ring in the morning !

 

[mtt.tr]

It's different world now with CDM rules, everyone is a bit more nervous to assume to risk.


Try a few engineers, however prices have gone up .

I do know of an affordable engineer who might be worth an ask

 

[addjunkie]

Its almost 10 years since your drawings have been done…..might be wirth speaking to a local archietect / plan drawer, to review your design and get calcs done…..things change all the time in relation to planning and building regs

 

[GSR]

I’m in the middle of an extension, not as complicated as yours (I am just a single storey kitchen extension so big steel and columns for existing wall removal, steel over big bifold, lintel spec over smaller bifold) and fees varied wildly when I was getting quotes. The one I went with was the cheapest (surprising I know) who did far more than the others - insulation, drainage etc all included. He also gave me options for flat roof, pitched roof with ceiling and vaulted roof. Most expensive quote was a bit £2k, this guy was £400 for far more than the £2k quote included.

He was a bit slow to respond to queries and had to chase him hard for stuff. Even had to drive to his house to get something answered the day before the roof was due to go on as he had ignored emails and phone calls but it wasn’t far. He was known to our building control and have not had any queries on anything he has spec’d and I am due to put the screed down today so all his work had been through BC now. I would definitely use somebody local rather than an online engineer that’s miles away.

 

[RBDIVE]

Definitely get some other prices. As part of my job I'm sending out drawings to structural engineers and prices for typical extension work are lower than this . But prices are linked to risk. So with out seeing the details its hard to say. So please get other prices

 

[dave h 2]

More quotes required, how else to recognise the 'I don't want that work' go away quotes.

 

[Welderpaul]

In my experience Structural Engineers are very negative souls . If you have not already done so I always found a talk-through of the job with them may help quash some of their fears and concerns, and as said above, price is linked to their perceived risk.

 

[BrokenBiker]

As with everything being done by someone else, get a few quotes. Everyone offers a free quote these days, and then atleast you know if they all come in the same sort of price, it is what it is...if a few are massively cheaper then you know who doesn't want the job...

Also, make sure the guy you pick is 'approved' by building control, we had that issue...submitted plans for an extension to be told they don't recognise the architect so plans would be delayed while they were sent off to be checked by someone they did approve of...the guy we used was about 5 times more experienced than the guy they used to check his work, we found out later