Any structural engineers or anyone used one?

[parisdisneyfan]

We are still working through all the things needed to be done before starting our garage/kitchen conversion. So far the asbestos survey has been done and come up ok, the building control inspector has visited and mostly ok. However he wants a structural engineer to calculate the steels needed Our architect has said he will send out our job to 2-3 companies for us to choose but we have never done this before so rather than just go with the architects preferred company or the cheapest, can anyone suggest what we should be looking for?

TIA

[tspill]

When we did our extension and refurb, our SE report cost £550.

This included 70sqm extension, attached garage that needed a few structural elements (including windpost) due to one of the walls being 11m long and how it was bound to the house. New steel purloins and ridge beam. And new roof structure - vaulted and open up to the ridge. All new joists and rafters. Plus a few other bits and pieces.

This included a 21 page report with all the details of what was needed and had all the detailed calculations for each aspect presented and the specifications for all the parts required. Plus four sets of very detailed drawings.

We didnt tender this as it wasn't a huge amount and we wanted to use an SE that the architect had worked with before and had first hand confidence and experience in his work. I simply didnt want to have problems with something so crucial and if there were issues, having to referee between architect and SE.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Tspill makes a valid point that is very good namely :-

'if there were issues,having to referee between architect and SE'

I would go with the architects recommendation. they work with them all the time.

[cornishfrogboy]

We have just completed a garage conversion into a dining room and the builder insisted on a structural engineers report before he knocked through for a double door opening from the kitchen. I went back to our plan drawer/architect and he had a structural engineers report, specifying the lintel along with calculation by the following morning. It cost me £150.

[tspill]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

Tspill makes a valid point that is very good namely :-

'if there were issues,having to referee between architect and SE'

I would go with the architects recommendation. they work with them all the time.

See more...

We went a step further and only invited tenders from builders that the architect had worked with extensively and knew the foremen. We were asked if we wanted to add any builders to the tender list. While we know a couple of builders we didnt want to use them for the same reason. Nor did we use specific trades people we knew (electrician snd window supplier) we didnt use them either. We wanted one place to go to if we had problems.
It worked very well in our case. Ended up with a virtually empty snag list even nearly 18 months after.
I can do without unnecessary hassle.

[parisdisneyfan]

Thanks guys that is really helpful. We have already chosen our builder due to the fact we have used him already for all the bathroom work and all his previous jobs and references. We contacted 3 further builders 6 months ago about the bathrooms and 1 said sorry too busy, 1 made an appointment then never showed up and 3rd didn't reply to my call or email.

As long as the architect doesn't recommend the one the builder doesn't like then we should be ok. We've been told to expect fees of around £1000 for a 41 sq metre conversion, with 3 new door lintels and removal of a 4 1/2 m supporting wall so seems pricey compared to ones quoted by tspill and CFB

Will keep you posted

[OutbackAddict]

we need one for garage conversion and first floor extenion over the top and ours is £675 plus VAT

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by parisdisneyfan

Thanks guys that is really helpful. We have already chosen our builder due to the fact we have used him already for all the bathroom work and all his previous jobs and references. We contacted 3 further builders 6 months ago about the bathrooms and 1 said sorry too busy, 1 made an appointment then never showed up and 3rd didn't reply to my call or email.

As long as the architect doesn't recommend the one the builder doesn't like then we should be ok. We've been told to expect fees of around £1000 for a 41 sq metre conversion, with 3 new door lintels and removal of a 4 1/2 m supporting wall so seems pricey compared to ones quoted by tspill and CFB

Will keep you posted

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It is worth remembering that mine was a simple knock through of a double skin wall in a 4 year old, 2 storey house and that the job was simply a single hole (hence just £150). We did not need a lintel for the window aperture as it was previously a garage door and our internal walls dividing off our remaining garage area was on a concrete floor of known structural strength and the wall not load bearing. Yours sounds rather more complex with several separate calculations!

Hopefully the images show how simple!

[parisdisneyfan]

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

It is worth remembering that mine was a simple knock through of a double skin wall in a 4 year old, 2 storey house and that the job was simply a single hole. We did not need a lintel for the window aperture as it was previously a garage door and our internal walls dividing off our remaining garage area was on a concrete floor of known structural strength and the wall not load bearing. Yours sounds rather more complex with several separate calculations!

Hopefully the images show how simple!

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Thanks for that, ours is a 50 year old house that already has had work upstairs on that wall - the garage used to be single storey and then the master bedroom was built over it and the gable end wall became an internal wall. The landing window became a doorway into the new bedroom. There is also a steel already running parallel to the wall that was put in when the bedroom was added. As dh said, although £1000 is twice as much as we were expecting it is cheap compared to how much it would cost if the house fell down

[tspill]

Originally Posted by parisdisneyfan

Thanks guys that is really helpful. We have already chosen our builder due to the fact we have used him already for all the bathroom work and all his previous jobs and references. We contacted 3 further builders 6 months ago about the bathrooms and 1 said sorry too busy, 1 made an appointment then never showed up and 3rd didn't reply to my call or email.

As long as the architect doesn't recommend the one the builder doesn't like then we should be ok. We've been told to expect fees of around £1000 for a 41 sq metre conversion, with 3 new door lintels and removal of a 4 1/2 m supporting wall so seems pricey compared to ones quoted by tspill and CFB

Will keep you posted

See more...

That does seem a bit expensive, but sometimes there are aspects more important than only price. And this I suspect is a small price in the context of the work you are doing.

Good luck with your work. I found the whole process very exciting.