How Much Does A Structural Engineer’s Report Cost?
If you’ve read our blog titled “How Long Does A Structural Engineer’s Inspection Take?” you will have seen us look into the types of information you need to advise the structural engineer to allow them to provide an estimate for how long they will be on site. You’ll therefore know that that overall response for this question is: “it depends”.
In much the same way, the cost of the report will largely be down to its purpose and therefore its content. For this article we will focus on the most common form of structural engineer’s report – the inspection type of report. We will touch upon the design types of report (such as Construction Methodology Statement, Basement Impact Assessment, structural input into a Planning Report) and the insurance related reports – Structural Engineer’s (Preliminary) Report, Structural Engineer’s Report on Causation, Concluding Report towards the end of this article.
Read on to find out more about how much a structural engineer’s report costs.
What Is The Scope?
A structural engineer’s report needs to be appropriate for the level of involvement (likely the total time) required from the structural engineer. Typically you can expect this to be around an hour but this is dependent on a number of factors but broadly comes down to:
Crack Inspections
If the purpose of the structural engineer's visit is to inspect crack damage to the property then this will be dependent on a number of factors in a similar way to the criteria for how long does a structural engineer’s inspection take. For example, understanding a larger property will likely have more rooms to inspect, and thus may take longer which way well be factored into the price.
Refer to our article “How Long Does A Structural Engineer’s Inspection Take?” for more information on how the property type and size affects the length of time the engineer will spend on site.
Pre-Purchase Report Inspections
Knowing what has prompted the enquiry to the structural engineer is a key question in dertmining the scope required and therefore the price for the works. For example, has a Level 3 pre-purchase survey identified something – such as cracking, distortion, or unrecorded structural alterations - and the surveyor’s report has recommended a structural engineer attend the property to provide commentary? Also, perhaps the buyer is looking to undertake structural works in the future and wants to give the property a clean bill of health that it can likely accommodate the proposals?
You can see that depending on what the buyer ultimately wants, not just from the report, but from the property they are purchasing, will have a large bearing on the scope of the report and therefore the time required and so the cost.
General Inspections
What has prompted the enquiry to the structural engineer?
Similar to the pre-purchase inspection, is the resident looking to undertake structural works in the future and wants to give the property a clean bill of health that it can likely accommodate the proposals?
Does the freeholder or landlord require confirmation as to the loadbearing nature of a wall or partition that a resident wants to remove.