Structural engineer quotes for kitchen-diner knock through, London - reasonable?

openyoureyeskaty

We've had four quotes from Structural Engineers on doing the calculations and drawings for:

- knocking down a non-supporting wall between our kitchen and dining room (although all have agreed that it's best to put a hidden steel up in the joists anyway since although it's not technically load-bearing there is a wall upstairs offset by about a foot).

- enlarging an existing patio door to 2m width (so putting in a bigger lintel), and turning a backdoor into a window (not changing the width, so not needing a new lintel).

- removing a chimney breast (put a steel in there).

We've had a real range of quotes, so it would be great to hear what you think is reasonable...

1. £650 (no VAT) including acting as our agent with Building Regs (haven't viewed the property yet but have received detailed description)

2. £880 (+ VAT) plus site visit fee of £120. (Including acting as agent with buliding regs. Came round but didn't really listen to what we had to say and got a bit grand/OTT with us around what extensions we could do (which we really don't want).

3. £375 (no VAT) does not include acting as agent with building regs. Hasn't seen the place but again, took a lot of detail over the phone and would obviously do a site visit if we went ahead.

(the three above I found on mybuilder dot com and all have good reviews).

4. £775 (+ VAT) This guy came recommended from my builder cousin, did a very thorough site visit, listened to what we wanted. Would act as agent with building regs.

Obviously at the moment we are tempted by the 3rd guy as he seemed to know his stuff, and he's coming in at a fraction of the cost of our next favourite no. 4.

Are these all reasonable quotes and what would you do? We live in Willesden, NW London. House is a 1950's terrace, standard three up, two down.

Thanks!!

Dan-Dan

number 3
you can quite easily deal with BC yourself (as can your builder)

cattie

To be honest I'd try to see if you can find any recommendations rather than choosing somebody from a site such as mybuilder.com. Most of the trades people on these kind of sites pay to be featured.

If it were me personally, I'd be going with no. 4, the guy recommended by the cousin even if it did cost me a little bit more.

When having such a big important job done, it is best to feel confident that everything is being done just as it should be.

Radsteral

the building control will be invited at diferent stages, on your case he may either come either on completion or once before the thing get smashed and once when beam is in place before being dressed with plasterboard If the builder you choose hasn't followed the drawings instruction it will tell the builder to rectify or if you called the building control yourself, it will tell you to tell the builder to put it in the right order .. normally builder would be there on the job when the building control officer comes in As a plasterer, I ve dealt many many times with cases like this . number 3 anytime , check they got insurance etc and all it should be fine,,, most enginers would only require infor height/width/length of that wall, what s above that wall and below that wall , etc and can give a pretty much accurate quote , and upon visit that quote is likely to stay as it is

Hintza

It doesn't matter how cheap they are if they don't do the job or mess it up. Go with the one who has been personally recommended (with the caveat that you like him and trust him) At the end of the day these fees are a tiny percentage of your bill.

Lovelyjoolz

Before you consider the price, consider the company and the likelyhood of them still being around if anything goes wrong, structurally, within the next few years. Are these engineers one-man bands who've been in business 5 minutes or a long established company?

What level of Professional Indemnity are they carrying?

Also ask them if they are providing a warranty for these prices, because no 3 sounds way to cheap for it to include 12 years of cover.

cyclonebri1

Dan-Dan wrote: »

number 3
you can quite easily deal with BC yourself (as can your builder)

I agree, it's a very simple job that any decent drafty can do, there are simple charts/graphs for this, there is nothing outside the ordinary. Plan drawer, (no, not architect), regd

Doozergirl

I agree that number three is the sort of price I'd expect. We use a very reputable firm, vat registered but it's totally feasible that a one man band is not VAT registered. Your builder should be your site agent with building control.

As long as the guy has the correct qualifications to satisfy building control and professional indemnity insurance. There's no ongoing relationship.

When these people say 'acting as your agent' does this mean they are submitting and and paying for the building control application in that price? Have you checked yourself what the local authority fee is? They're probably just adding a fee for doing it; it takes a few minutes.