AS SAFE AS HOUSES Taking the Gamble Out of Your Home Improvement Project

How a Good Engineer Can Save You Time, Money and Heartache… And a Bad One Could Turn Your Dreams into a Disaster There are many books written to help you navigate the planning and building regulations approval process. However, the reality is that although understanding the process is interesting and informative, it is to an extent unnecessary. I say this because you will have hired an architect and they will apply for both your planning permission and your building warrant approval (if you’re in Scotland) or building regulations approval (if you’re in the rest of the UK) for you. Buying a book on this process is therefore a bit redundant. Similarly, there are books available telling you about the actual construction process but are you really going to build it yourself? Surely you have a day job which will get in the way of undertaking a huge DIY project like that? This book was written to help you hire the correct design team. You will most likely already have an architect and possibly a contractor lined up and these two professions will be discussed in the following pages. We will also focus on the structural engineer’s role in your design. For some reason people expect the engineering design side of their project to be taken care of by the architect and this is frankly dangerous. This book discusses the role of the engineer in your project and how hiring a good engineer is essential. If you were having an operation, you would of course want the surgeon there but surely you would want the anaesthetist too? Going to the dentist? Surely you would also want the dental nurse there to stop you drowning in your own saliva? Hiring an architect but no engineer is like Batman without Robin? Not really happy with that analogy given that I would be Robin in it, but you get my meaning: architects and engineers have different skill sets. Your architect should take your lead on what you want design-wise and so providing you have good communication with them, you should do well. Architects are typically outgoing and personable types who are easy to get along with and discuss ideas with. Engineers are not the same. We live in a world where things either work or they don’t work. This makes us quite binary in our communication and you may find your engineer difficult to comprehend and even communicate with. This in fairness is probably why people try to avoid hiring a structural engineer in the first place. • This book will help you avoid hiring the wrong engineer (and architect) for your project. • This book will help you understand the legal limitations your design must work within – just because something was fine 100 years ago does not mean it’s fine now. • This book will help you identify an engineer who is limiting the time they spend on your job due to a low fee, lack of interest or lack of ability. • This book will help you hire the best engineer and architect for your project and then get the best out of them. Your domestic project will likely be the single most expensive endeavour you will undertake. It already has risks associated with it. You do not want to add to that risk by hiring the wrong structural engineer. • A good engineer can and should save you money and time, by considering how the building will be constructed in such a way as to make the contractor’s job easier. • A good engineer can also add a little special something to the job to make it unique or just to give you a better end product. • A good engineer will keep you and your family safe. • A bad engineer can cost you a small fortune in over specified steelwork, foundations and other structure. This also delays the project, costing you time as well as money. • A bad engineer will frustrate your contractor, who in turn will start to see your dream project as a ‘problem job’, which they just want completed so they can move onto the next one. • A bad engineer can easily leave you with a building which is inherently unstable or otherwise unsafe. Putting your family’s lives at risk.