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How Much would you pay for expert advice?


Ferdinand

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I'm not sure that this is the right forum, but I think it might be a useful spin off comversation from my other posting .

 

If you were taking an expert adviser with you to a second or third viewing of a house or potential house, how much would you be willing to pay - in your terms, and what would you expect?

 

 

 

Edited by Ferdinand
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Thinking from my point of view, I would employ an expert to accompany me once I was sure that I was looking at a serious prospect for the purposes of:

 

1 - Sanity Check - am I barking up the wrong tree?

2 - Have I missed anything obvious where my expert has expertise I lack?

3 - To have experience complementary to my own. eg I know my way around my local planners, the land registry, and the rental market very well, but I do not know much about loft conversions, tanking cellars, and access design.

4 - To provide a different perspective on my ideas. It doesn't matter too much what that is, but it is important to grapple with alternatives.

5 - I would want a different perspective at a decision point which could lead to a investment of a couple of hundred k.

 

I would explicitly not expect any liability from the expert - stated in writing if necessary.

 

In that context, and expecting the viewing to take perhaps 90 minutes, I would be willing to pay perhaps £50-70 up to £150+, which is a small price to pay for an informal insurance policy on a 6 figure spend, depending on:

 

1 - The expert concerned (eg an Architectural Technician or Chartered Surveyer).

2 - What I got back - just the viewing, follow up emails, a short memo report or a conversation over a gourmet lunch.

 

If I had done more than about 3 or 4 of these and none had gone forward, I would look to hone my own "project selection" skills.

 

Thoughts welcome.

 

Ferdinand

 

 

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When you try and put a value on anything, you need to ask a few counter questions.

 

So, taking a subject that I know about, beaches, you could ask:

 

How much should I pay to use that beach?

How much should I be paid to not have access to that beach?

Would others be willing to pay more, or less, for what I currently get for free?

 

Same with planning:

If you object to a planning application, are you willing to be compensated, or even by the plot, or move out of the area.  You can easily put a price on any of those.

 

So ask yourself the counter factual, which you have done, then put a cash price on them.  So say you don't know about loft conversions, but you do know what premium they can support locally.  You also know how much you are willing to spend on getting a conversion.  Take one from the other, then decide if it can be done within that price.  That will tell you if an 'expert' is offering value.

 

X is the unknown factor, spurt is a drip under pressure.

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Your not going to get much of an expert in any field for £50 for 90 minutes onsite , even £150 sounds cheap. Factor in travel time for them as well. Maybe what you need is an architect who has a lot of site experience. I'm not sure an architectural technician or surveyor is going to cover everything you want, unless you are very lucky with a particular individual.

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Having been a consultant in a non related field i would normally charge a minimum of half a day if the job included a short site visit. For this you would get a basic report and a follow up phone call to chat about the report. I was based abroad so cost is not comparable, however i would be expecting to pay £200-£400

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On 8/14/2016 at 12:04, Ferdinand said:

If you were taking an expert adviser with you to a second or third viewing of a house or potential house, how much would you be willing to pay - in your terms, and what would you expect?

 

Locally, (Lancaster) the rate is around £70 per hour, with a minimum fee of £200. So, exactly in line with @Cpd

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  • 2 weeks later...
18 minutes ago, divorcingjack said:

Our Structural engineer site visit and follow up work is certainly not £100/hr. Definitely more in the 2-400 range suggested. And he doesn't even say that much!

 

How nuch extra nion-chargeabve does he do?

 

eg is thinking time, travel time and report writing time charged?

 

Ferdinand

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It's difficult to say as he's doing all the work for our whole build, but I'm sure when the quote came in a site visit was charged at £400. I'm assuming that includes travel, a report, as well as some email/phone correspondence back and forth with us/the architect. 

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1 hour ago, divorcingjack said:

It's difficult to say as he's doing all the work for our whole build, but I'm sure when the quote came in a site visit was charged at £400. I'm assuming that includes travel, a report, as well as some email/phone correspondence back and forth with us/the architect. 

 

To me that would be almost a full day of work if you get a report and a conversation.

 

Ferdinand

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On ‎14‎/‎08‎/‎2016 at 12:04, Ferdinand said:

I'm not sure that this is the right forum, but I think it might be a useful spin off comversation from my other posting .

 

If you were taking an expert adviser with you to a second or third viewing of a house or potential house, how much would you be willing to pay - in your terms, and what would you expect?

 

 

 

I contacted a local structural engineer   He wanted 2k plus 75 for bore holes

I called a chap that had done steel calcs for me in the past

He was happy to come down

Told me that with a sand quarry across the road there would be no need for bore holes as the land is sand and clay He gave me the option of mini piles but said he preferred deep strip in this kind of ground

A week later foundation drawings for the house and both garages were done

£200

The first guy made a big thing about coming down and liaising with building control

The second just said submit them with your building regs Make sure the ground workers stick to them

Big difference in price for the same end result

    Gary   

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