is the structural engineer ripping us off??

tom_thumb_2

I had a similar situation with a sound proofing consultant who came out to me, on the phone he said he charged £400 for a consultation which inc any plans needed and a write up. I mearly wanted to ask a few questions as i had work men on site who basically knew what they were doing apart from a couple of things. I asked what i would be charged for a short verbal consultation and was told it would not be very much and he would need to look first before quoting a price. He had a 5 min drive to get to me and before we started i asked again what he would be charging and he seemed to avoid the question. Fourty mins later after a lot of waffle which should have lasted 10 mins i finally ended the meeting and was told i owed £175, i did not need any plans or a write up. Thats £175 for 50 mins of his time. RUBBISH
I just refused to pay it and give him £70 which i thought was more than enough and showed him the door. . he said very little on his way out!

bo_drinker

When we recently sold our place the buyers surveyor came round for their bldg society to check the place out. I'm guessing they were charged 2 to 300 pounds. He was in the house for 16 minutes. Back to the office to type up some blurb, another 16 mins. AND to top it off he never mentioned the repairs I should have done when we had a survey but I didn't do 16 years ago. And when he got the little meter out to check for damp he tested a plaster board/ stud wall. Nice work if you can get it.

Airwolf1

It may have purely been a Mortgage Valuation report only. The primary use of these are to inform the Lending Institution as to whether the property is suitable security for a loan. It isn't a detailed report or survey on the existing or future condition of the property.

damanpunk

Please remember that YOU will want something in writing confirming if the wall can be pulled down or not. The engineer needs to do the relevant calculations to cover his own !!!!, even if he can look at it and decide there and then that it isn't load bearing.

arthursmum

Thanks a lot for all answers, it was very helpful to read opinions and experiences form other members. I certainly didn't mean to say that structural engineers are generally overpaid...more that this particular one really didn't make the payment rules clear in the first place. It's frustrating to have to triple your estimated job budget, we'll try to haggle a little bit and see if he can give us a better price as it seems that the 250 without a final answer will be a complete waste. Cheers, Kat

MrsE_2

Somerset wrote: »

If it helps, I paid about £300 for a S.E. visit plus the drawings/calculations.

I knew they were pricey, so tried to keep the cost down by arranging he visit me when already in the area. I was also hoping for a 'no, it's not load-bearing' but it was hence the calculations. But the £300 was the all-in price.

Actually thinking about it, I rang about four S.E.'s for prices and they all had minimum charges of £200-£250 just to come out.

Maybe I got a good deal. Like I said, I told him I was in no rush, to just call when he was doing another job in our area - he obviously factored that in to the price.

I paid between £500 & £600 for visit & drawings for removing my load bearing wall and another sum to them but to pass onto building control at the council.

Running_Horse

arthursmum wrote: »

We can't really afford that so we were hoping to simply get a yes or no.

Do you work free for strangers?

poppysarah

If you can't afford structural fees then you probably can't afford the emergency additonal work that occurs during building work. Leave the wall alone. Step away from the wall.