woah. structural engineer pricing

[ktzmoh]

Holy crap. We are in the collecting-bids and getting-recommendations stage of some structural work on our house (earthquake retrofitting and making sure we don't need any foundation strengthening). We had scheduled to have someone come out on Friday to look at the house, give use his opinion on the priority retrofit needs and a cost estimate. I figured he would charge for the inspection, so I just asked him what to expect in terms of a bill for the service and his inspection and recommendations came in at around $1000. Holy crap! We aren't even close to the lets-draw-up-plans stage. We just were going to get a written inspection with recommendations about retrofit improvements in order of the cost-for-risk-reduction ratio. I fully expected in the neighborhood of $300 for this kind of thing, and to have multiple engineers come out for multiple opinions. So I was thinking that this stage might run us close to $1000 total, but wow I think I was mistaken.

[sjh722]

Ouch! I'm sorry, that's not a fun thing to spend money on. Structural work is never cheap.

[Deleted]

Yikes. I'll look at our paperwork when we get home, but I don't think ours was that much (we had a lot of retrofitting in our remodel). But it was also through our architect, so he and that engineer might have some sort of relationship that his clients get a better deal? however, we did call him back for some foundation opinions, and I don't think it was that expensive then either. I'll send you his name if I can find the rates we paid.

[ktzmoh]

Jun 11, 2013 12:18:36 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

Ouch! I'm sorry, that's not a fun thing to spend money on. Structural work is never cheap.

Yeah, I guess i was totally prepared for the actual work to not be cheap. But just the bidding? I definitely didn't expect that to be so much.

[ktzmoh]

Jun 11, 2013 12:24:32 GMT -5 @juno said:

Yikes. I'll look at our paperwork when we get home, but I don't think ours was that much (we had a lot of retrofitting in our remodel). But it was also through our architect, so he and that engineer might have some sort of relationship that his clients get a better deal? however, we did call him back for some foundation opinions, and I don't think it was that expensive then either. I'll send you his name if I can find the rates we paid.

OMG you are my personal angies list.

[pamela]

Well, if you are asking for recommendations from an engineer, they may have to do some calculations based on any measurements they take in order to provide anything. As licensed PEs they have rules about what guidance they can provide without full calculations.

[munkii]

I'm thinking along the lines of what Pamela said. If their inspection requires their stamp, the cost of the inspection has to reflect the cost liability since it's tied to the stamp.

[ktzmoh]

So will people have to shell out 3 or 4 k before even deciding who to use,and start drawing plans? That seems crazy. Who can get multiple bids at $1000 each?

[Deleted]

Jun 11, 2013 14:37:42 GMT -5 ktzmoh said:

So will people have to shell out 3 or 4 k before even deciding who to use,and start drawing plans? That seems crazy. Who can get multiple bids at $1000 each?

No.  My guess is he misunderstood your question.  He was, hopefully, giving you the cost for them to do the project, not bid it.  If you are just deciding who you want to use, that should be free.  I would ask for an hourly rate proposal.  This may or may not include the cost of the engineers seal.

if this is not the case, keep looking for engineers.

eta:  i think I am understanding your thought process.  Are you having different engineers come up with what they feel needs to be done and then choosing a eng?  That is typically not how it works.  You meet them on site and they may give some suggestions, ideas, but nothing concrete.  Get three proposals, choose your engineer, then they will do calcs and documents required to bid off of.  

[pitterwoo]

Jun 11, 2013 12:25:22 GMT -5 ktzmoh said:

Jun 11, 2013 12:24:32 GMT -5 @juno said:

Yikes. I'll look at our paperwork when we get home, but I don't think ours was that much (we had a lot of retrofitting in our remodel). But it was also through our architect, so he and that engineer might have some sort of relationship that his clients get a better deal? however, we did call him back for some foundation opinions, and I don't think it was that expensive then either. I'll send you his name if I can find the rates we paid.

OMG you are my personal angies list.

lol

also, ouch