Problems with structural engineer - who to turn to?!

PJGal

Hi,

I'm a small convenience store owner and we're having two walls knocked down at the moment, but there is a flat upstairs. Since the builders started work on Monday, they have found endless problems that the structural engineer missed out in his survey and therefore hasn't included in his calculations. He even mis-measured one wall by 400mm so the steel ended up being too short for the job and completely useless.
This is obviously going to cost us loads in extra steel, materials and labour. What do we do about getting the structural engineer to pay for the extra cost? Is there some kind of body/ombudsman to support us?

wealdroam

PJGal wrote: »

Is there some kind of body/ombudsman to support us?

Yes, there is.

it's called H. M. Courts Service.

But before that you need to study the contract you have with the engineer.

PJGal

Okay thanks. The builders have said that the structural engineer usually includes some kind of a disclaimer to account for any problems that he may have missed, but they have studied ours and cannot fine anything like this. Can I just approach the engineer himself and demand that he pays for the work?

rs65

You could try. How do you know the builder isn't just chancing it for extra work?

vaio

PJGal wrote: »

Okay thanks. The builders have said that the structural engineer usually includes some kind of a disclaimer to account for any problems that he may have missed, but they have studied ours and cannot fine anything like this. Can I just approach the engineer himself and demand that he pays for the work?

that would be my starting point...although "discussing" rather than "demanding" might be a better opening gambit

What sort of costs are we talking about?

PJGal

Well the job was costing just over £5000 before they found all of these things. The builder is a close friend of ours and we know we can trust him. It's probably going to cost around an extra thousand pounds or more. We paid nearly £1000 for the structural engineer as he ended up coming to see the shop twice. We want a refund on that as well.
I'm going to be very polite and reasonable when I approach him with this as I don't want it to get nasty if it doesn't have to. But I'm just worried about who to turn to if he refuses to lay for the extra work and our refund.

rs65

PJGal wrote: »

Well the job was costing just over £5000 before they found all of these things. The builder is a close friend of ours and we know we can trust him. It's probably going to cost around an extra thousand pounds or more. We paid nearly £1000 for the structural engineer as he ended up coming to see the shop twice. We want a refund on that as well.
I'm going to be very polite and reasonable when I approach him with this as I don't want it to get nasty if it doesn't have to. But I'm just worried about who to turn to if he refuses to lay for the extra work and our refund.

Speak to him and see what he says. Just because a job has cost more doesn't automatically mean its his fault. You will need to prove he was negligent and that you have suffered a loss because of said negligence.

You can always resort to the courts if need be.

PJGal

Okay, brilliant. He's on holiday now for a few weeks so I'll have to wait and see for a little while. Thanks for your help!

vaio

he should have PI insurance but if the costs are only £1k then I'd guess it will be less than his excess so he'll fund it himself if liable.

I'm not sure it's reasonable for you to expect a refund too

bris

Dont forget with 2 walls knocked down the size he would measure would not include the thickness of the two walls, so it may be who ever ordered the steel didn't account for this.

arcon5

He should have professional indemnity insurance.