Structural Engineer Fees for Converting abungalow to house

Nobbie1967

Mr_Costcutter wrote: »

Not sure what your point is because you have no idea as to the cost of the OP's building costs. It may be less than a half of what you have quoted.

Demolishing a property isn't always permitted.

The point is that the OP would be advised to consider demolition and rebuild because they would not pay VAT on a new build. Trying to re-use existing walls/foundations which were not built to take a second story is fraught with uncertainty and possible increased cost during the build. Re-using existing floor plans also limits the design of the new house.

It seems obvious that re-using existing infrastructure would be cheaper, but in reality this is often not the case due to the complications it brings.

In the case I referred to above, after a lot of time and expense it was found that the foundations were insufficient for the second storey and so the house was demolished as it was a cheaper way ahead.

My advice to the OP would be to investigate the existing foundations before spending too much on professional design services.

CWNW

chappers wrote: »

I couldn't say for sure but, it sounds like the tree survey might be surplus to requirements, there is information out there on the internet which indicates how deep foundations need to be depending on the proximity of certain species of trees and their size.
The general rule is anything built further away than the height of the tree shouldn't effect the foundations, but bear in mind that this needs to take into account the mature height of a tree. Any tree further than 25m away is generally disregarded though some leeway may be added for trees such as large oak, willow and poplar as they have the biggest effect on groundwater and subsequent shrinkage and expansion of the ground.
Has your SE visited site.

It also depends on the soil conditions. If you find that the soil is sand / ballast rather than clay down a couple of meters then the trees are unlikely to have an affect on the foundations.

chappers

Indeed it seems like your SE may be either a bit lazy or a bit over cautious, a list of the nearest trees and their proximity together with him inspecting the foundation test holes should give him all the information he needs without the necessity for professional reports.
Local building control will have knowledge of local ground conditions and will also come and advise as to foundation depths/widths, once test holes are opened up.