Our Fees.

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Our Fees

How much do we charge?

Our fees are based on the complexity of your individual project, as opposed to the size of the building, and an intricate loft conversion may require more design effort than a large but simple warehouse building, for example.

Our typical fee ranges between £500 and £2000, for the majority of cases. Site investigations and reports will depend on the nature of the defects we are investigating, but a budget of £350 to £750 should be anticipated.

Our simplest service is the on-site consultation, in which we meet you on site and discuss the relevant issues, explaining the causes and implications as we go. We follow this up with an emailed memorandum summarising the topics discussed. Our fee for sites within Cambridge is £250 plus VAT (totalling £300).

We recommend that you contact us to discuss your requirements, and we will aim to provide a fee estimate to suit the needs of your particular project. 

What do I get for my money?

On the face of it, a wad of calculations and diagrams of details which will generally be invisible once they are built. If we do our job well, you won't have to think about what we've done once the last coat of paint is dry.

This stuff is important though; you have a legal duty to comply with the Building Regulations and we ensure that our designs meet the requirements of Part A (Structural Safety), but we also use all our skill and experience to make sure the design is cost-effective and practical to construct.

What makes Structural Engineers Cambridge Ltd special?

All our engineers are highly qualified. Charles is a chartered member of the IStructE and IMechE, Tony is a chartered member of the ICE and James has a degree in Structural Engineering and a Masters in Architecture. Our technician Andy was apprenticed trained nigh-on thirty years ago and has managed an engineering works with over twenty employees, and is furthering his education in civil and structural engineering at Peterborough College. We have a legacy of over 5,000 projects and an extensive library of published and in-house information and data. We use both proprietary engineering software and bespoke programs and methods developed for our own field of expertise, together with "first principles" design, as appropriate.

What about practical experience?

James has designed and built a new house in Cambridge, and restored another in Spain. Charles worked on the conversion of a Victorian tram stables aged 16 and the following year underpinned a building working alone. He designed the total refurbishment and extension of his own house, encountering just about every typical defect in 1960s construction along the way, while remaining married and just about solvent. Andy has refurbished his 19th century home with his own hands, including refurbishing the original suspended timber floor.

Riccardo has in-depth knowledge of designing and manufacturing engineered timber products and his knowledge of seismic design was put to good use following the 2009 L’Aquila earthquakes, when he urgently designed new accommodation for the population of the city. We don't treat our work just as an intellectual exercise, we get stuck in!

What else?

  • We will provide a priced proposal for your approval before commencing work, as soon as the scope of work can be defined.
  • We have comprehensive professional indemnity insurance, which protects against errors in design and other losses such as destruction of records etc. This is expensive, but important.
  • We invest constantly in books, software and equipment to ensure we are able to work efficiently and keep up to date with important developments.
  • We design every project on an individual basis, and never produce generic "one size fits all" designs.
  • We never take our knowledge for granted, and constantly challenge our own understanding of the principles and methods of design, so that we can continually improve our work.
  • We guarantee that our designs will achieve Building Control approval.
  • We will address any queries raised by Building Control and their engineering consultants promptly and at no cost to our client.
  • We want you to be confident that your building is as stable and reliable as every building is expected to be.