SteveMack

Our estate is quite small off a main road consisting of 24 houses, 1 has an extension but the people who extended it moved house 3 years ago before we lived here Behind us is nothing but farmers fields for miles too; so I'm very limited with this method

My new SE Has said for our extension if we get a GI done so we have the soil bearing capacity we can potentially reduce our foundation spec. Existing house is built on sand/soil from what I know of local area and from a 6m deep hole United Utilities recently dug about 100m away from our house (Granted a lot can change in 100m I agree) I've been quoted £1400 for 2 micro bore holes and report, is it even worth it at this cost or is there a cheaper way to proove what we need/should I be paying less? I've already dug down to our existing foundations to check existing size

Got somewhere finally; cancelled him as he missed his last set deadline and wouldn't give me a date he would actually finish them. Baffled me personally. Now have a new company working to a 4 week turn around time who fully understand what is wanted and needed from the job; £300 more but at least I can retain my sanity.

It's not a 'one man band' as such, I think there's 3 of them in the office from what he said. They don't advertise as they get all their work from referrals etc which I found great/positive. I did a structural engineering module years ago as part of my degree so I know the complexity involved; I definately have respect for what they are doing/creating and this definately isn't a simple one. After 2 initial/vague times limits passed, I wasn't overly bothered but our last chat he said; he won't be offended if I went elsewhere, I replied with, I'm happy staying with you but please give me a firm and realistic plan when I'll get something back; he replied with 1-2 weeks max and we're now passing the 2 week mark... This is the bit that's really annoyed me. It's not cheap either, around £1200 for site visit/loading paths/beams and foundation requirements etc. He's not used C19 as an excuse for himself as such; it seemed to relate more to his colleagues all being at home and the 'team' wasn't together; he's been actively working through C19 doing drawings etc still whilst self distanced. Also yes, May this year he came

Ouch that doesn't sound good Such a shame; we came to compromises we were happy on so he could keep beam depths from getting silly but feel a bit lost now and it's ruining our plans; our first choice builder is booked up to June next year already and we want him from August/September onwards but he won't give us a proper price breakdown until he gets the structural detail and building regs drawings etc

The recommended structural engineer by architect came round to look at our extension drawings and loadings etc (Goal post taking out corner of house using ~3.6M beam for bifolds to go in and a 6.5M meter beam joining the 3.6M beam midway like a T taking out the adjacent gable wall) That was the 19th May; 3 times I've chased him now but he says he's really busy as he's working on his own at moment, today was the 3rd promise date I've had that's come and gone; I've not paid so nothing lost other than my time waiting. Is everyone busy at the moment or do I cancel him? How can it take so long; I'm baffled!