Structural Engineers costs.

[Mrs.R]

Good morning, we are in the process of looking for a structural engineer to carry out some works to the roof and upstairs of our property. It is a 1840 detatched house with a hipped roof, recovered in concrete tiles sometime in the 70's.
To put it briefly we purchased a house with a very dodgy loft conversion (yes this was brought up on survey and local council etc were involved), we had however always planned to return this space back to storage as it does not and cannot adhere to building regs and also we needed to have some re-supporting work done to the roof as the loft conversion had made the roof somewhat unsafe.
As it stands we wish to return to storage space and put the ceiling back in the bedroom it is mainly partly over (is is sort of a mezzanine leval straddling 3 bedrooms) and have a traditional loft opening. This was also suggested by the building regs officer from the local council
I sourced a local very experienced surveyor and have been quoted £800 for drawings, does this seem resonable? Having had no previous experience i just wanted to get some feedback, he has also requested for 50% to be paid upfront is this standard procedure, and for the rest on completion. I received a standard format letter but still dont really know how he plans to carry out this job or how major the works are, i guess i should really find out all this information before i pay anything?
We talked in depth about what he may do but havent had anything written about the actual work he wants to be done.
What do you think,
Any advice is really appretiated.
thanks.

 

[Stephen]

The fee itself is not unreasonable, but it really depends on how much work is involved and this is not readily apparent from the information provided.

Very few professionals will charge up front because until they start the job the money is legally the client's and if this is the case there should be a client's account, etc (lots of hassle). What is more usual is to pay something when the work starts (e.g. after the inspection) and to pay the balance on completion. Some will refuse to release the documents, etc until the full payment has been received.

It is important to establish a good working relationship in case you need his input again later.

You should ask to see draft drawings, etc to ensure that before it is finalised the drawings are what you want.

Stephen

 

[AMc]

I paid mine around £60 an hour (no VAT as he's semi-retired so doesn't turn over enough to be registered) so your quote is a couple of days work. Fees like these are likely to account for 10% of the budget.
Check if that includes the building control submission fees - my guess is not.
Talk through the detail with him/her as disputes about payment can get nasty really fast if each side makes assumptions.
I wouldn't be adverse to paying 50% upfront, as it shows good faith on your part and will keep your job in the top of the To Do list.

 

[Penners]

Mrs R - firstly, you should be aware that Stephen's advice comes "from the horse's mouth" (no offence, Stephen!), as he is a professional.

I don't see £800 as an unreasonable charge for professional drawings, bearing mind that your surveyor has to spend time measuring up, designing and drawing. As regards the prepayment, I can only tell you that on the two occasions that I've used chartered surveyors to carry our structural surveys, they have both asked for full payment up front.

By the way, I don't think you mean that you want a structural engineer to carry out the work. Structural engineers tend to be consultants rather than builders. You may find that your surveyor can recommend a good builder to carry out the work.

 

[masochists-r-us]

We have used structural engineers on two occasions, the first for a full structural survey prior to purchasing our house for the princely sum of £1000 for one visit and a report which frankly didn't tell us very much and with hindsight was not a good use of our limited budget. Our second experience was for validating my Husband's plans for doing a similar job to yours. This cost us £250 for one visit and a short report which we used for a LBC application and proved to be great value for money. Having seen the amount of time and effort my Husband put in on the drawings, £800 doesn't seem to be too unreasonable, but you need to be very clear about exactly what you're getting for your money up front. Also, in your shoes, I would have preferred to start with selecting an experienced building contractor who will in turn need to consult with a struc eng. This way you will get some up front transparency of the total costs and your final solution or design will be the combined efforts of both builder and struc eng. The last thing you want is to pay our £800 and then decide to make expensive revisions once the builders apply their practical point fo view to the design.
Best of luck.