Drawings Quotation

[supraguy]

Hi - Looking for some advice on whether a price I have been quoted for some drawings is reasonable.

My contractor was about to start work on our new detached 8.5m x 4.5m garage on Monday when building control rocked up and put a halt on proceedings.

They were concerned about a cropped conifer hedge in the next door neighbours garden which is approx 1m away from one of the new walls. This being the case a traditional footing would need to be extremely deep and the idea was proposed by the contractor to look at using a concrete raft.

So I have been ringing around and emailing trying to get designs done for a raft and subsequently received a request from building control for the following drawings:

(a) Foundation design;
(b) Floor slab;
(c) Walls, including lintels over openings;
(d) Roof construction;
(e) Rainwater drainage

I have been quoted £1,000 +vat for the above drawings with the additional cost of £300+ vat for a soakage test to be done to facilitate drawing e.

Having no idea how much these things cost i'm trying to ascertain whether this is reasonable or not as i'm still waiting for other quotes to come in to allow me to benchmark the price.

Would really appreciate any feedback.

 

[jeds]

Tad on the high side for me. I'd be in the £750-£950 range all in.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Aye, jeds is bang on where I'd be too inc SE.

Try and stick to one man band type fellas.

 

[supraguy]

Thanks guys appreciate the feedback.

Interestingly enough one of the structural engineers I contacted has come back and said he wouldn't recommend a raft on clay soil near trees as he has witnessed a number of occasions where the raft has tilted due to localised shrinkage, but two other SE's haven't mentioned this.

I thought the idea of a raft, particularly with the amount of rebar that goes into them nowadays, was that the whole thing will move together and that yes they can tilt but if soil is prepared properly before hand this should be minimal. However as per above i'm no expert in the building game and just finding it a bit frustrating because at this rate we will have spent nearly £2k on initial plans and then structural drawings even before we've broken ground, just for a garage !!

 

[supraguy]

Any views on the above? Would it be that fool hardy to use a raft on clay in the vicinity of trees?