ᐅ Structural Engineering Effort: How Much Labor Time Is Required?

Homebuilders somehow turn into perfect structural engineers and architects.
Besides their manpower, structural engineers also have to cover hardware, software, electricity, rent, insurance, liability, building inspections, printing costs, paper costs, etc. as if everything could be done in one day.
In fact, many kitchen salespeople or even real estate agents earn more than some structural engineers or architects.
Unfortunately, some structural engineers and architects lack the courage to submit offers based on the official fee scale (HOAI), because almost everywhere there is someone else who completes design services and structural calculations for less than 1,000 EUR.

You don’t have to tell me that, after all, we invested nearly 8,000 euros (about $8,800) for the structural engineer for our house. In our opinion, though, we received good service, advice, material selection, and so on.

Personally, I wouldn’t necessarily trust a structural engineering plan that cost only around 1,000 euros (about $1,100) – which is actually what our neighbors paid for a large single-family house plus a basement apartment. It’s not that the house wouldn’t hold up, but it’s probably more of a “standard” structural plan, where you won’t go wrong – except maybe using far too much concrete, steel, supports, and so on.

Hello,

nordanney schrieb:

Out of personal interest, I’m curious about the effort involved in planning a complete structural engineering design for a larger single-family house (or single-family house with a granny flat) of about 1,000 cubic meters (35,300 cubic feet) of enclosed space. So, a full design including foundation, etc.
How many working hours are approximately needed? A rough estimate is sufficient—more like a working day or maybe as much as 60 hours?

I can’t tell you the hours exactly, but it definitely adds up. In our case, the structural calculations for a house of this size up to and including the building permit/planning permission stage cost about 3,400 EUR plus VAT. For the later construction-phase detailed design, including all detailed calculations and drawings, roughly the same amount is added.

nordanney schrieb:

And I’d like an estimate to discuss this with neighboring building families in our housing development. Currently, the prevailing opinion is that the costs for structural engineering design are massively exaggerated. The work is supposedly done by computer software anyway, so the planning should be finished in a day and therefore should only cost about 1,000 EUR.

Then they should find a structural engineer who can deliver the necessary calculations for that price or just download a free program from the internet.

These are exactly the people who complain upfront but then suddenly spend a lot of money on a completely overpriced kitchen—and still have the audacity to complain when they get exactly what they paid for.

Best regards, Bauexperte

Thank you for your assessments. Maybe I can report later (2014) on how the construction went.