m&e Can't find M&E Design consultant

[DaveKF]

I'm trying to find an M&E consultant to do all the plans for: electrics, lighting, pipework, service runs etc, etc. I've got an architect who's done the plans to get us through planning permission but they now need these details added which he says we need an M&E consultant for.

 

After a LOT of Googling it seems like most M&E consultants don't do residential, they're all in for big commercial projects. Can anyone recommend anyone for a single family house or recommend a better way to search than I've used up till now? Also any idea what a fair price is for this service? 

 

Many thanks in advance.

[JohnMo]

41 minutes ago, DaveKF said:

M&E consultant

I had never heard of them until they kept getting mentioned on here.

 

Wife and decided where we wanted light switches and lights, I marked on a plan, electric contractor quoted and installed.

 

If you are using a plumber, mark on drawing where the cylinder and heat pump goes, put UFH manifold in same location.  UFH install at 100mm centres in bathrooms, 150 to 200mm elsewhere. Operate single zone. If you want cooling consider installing fan coils in bedrooms, plumber will sort out pipe size and routes.

 

M&E Consultant will tell you less than above and charge you £10k for it.

[bassanclan]

@Nickfromwales

[Kelvin]

I did it all myself. It’s not that hard to do. 
 

On the lights. I did visit two lighting designers and posted on here. The first one wanted £34,000 to design the lighting layout, provide SOME of the lights, and some of the switching hardware. I nearly fell off my chair. I got them to do a lighting design which was really poor. They have subsequently gone bust. We then visited someone that is a one woman band self-taught lighting designer. She had some really good ideas and my wife wanted to go with her but she charged £5000 just for a design and I really struggled to see where the money in that was. However we had learnt enough to have a reasonable stab at doing it ourselves and are really happy with the outcome and especially with some of the lights we chose. 

Edited September 10 by Kelvin

[ETC]

On 10/09/2024 at 13:56, DaveKF said:

I'm trying to find an M&E consultant to do all the plans for: electrics, lighting, pipework, service runs etc, etc. I've got an architect who's done the plans to get us through planning permission but they now need these details added which he says we need an M&E consultant for.

 

After a LOT of Googling it seems like most M&E consultants don't do residential, they're all in for big commercial projects. Can anyone recommend anyone for a single family house or recommend a better way to search than I've used up till now? Also any idea what a fair price is for this service? 

 

Many thanks in advance.

I’m surprised your architect doesn’t know anyone. Most architects will know an M&E consultant who should be able to knock up a few layouts. The other option is to speak to your local friendly plumber and electrician who can do a few proposals on the understanding that they will get a shot at pricing the job.

[Mattg4321]

I wouldn’t bother with one for a normal domestic property. The consultant will likely massively overspec things, or just come up with something so basic that a decent contractor would do the same in their sleep anyway. 
 

What you really need to concentrate on is finding decent contractors. 

[Nickfromwales]

I’ve found with most good trades, even the best, there’s still huge gaps in coordination. 
Not so problematic if you have some kind of background in the industry or have a lot of spare time for attendance, but when left to their own devices a lot of trades fail to work with much synergy / harmony, and results ‘vary’.

A good electrician should save you ever needing often laughable “lighting designers”……last one on a project I was on looked like a Parkinson sufferer had a bingo marker and charged north of £3k for it, which the client paid, then I just binned it and did it properly for free within our electrical package.

My kids have done better looking things  stuck by magnets to my fridge