If you don't wish simply to follow the prescribed hut design, the guidance is that a structural "engineer must provide you with a fully specified structural design for your hut and certificate for the design of both foundations and superstructure calculated in relation to the actual site conditions concerned".
Has anyone any experience of discussing hut designs/ structures with structural engineers and, if so, could they please share with us how they got on - particularly re the availability/ appropriate knowledge of such individuals, and what the cost estimate for their involvement would be. I rather suspect the cost would be prohibitive for most folk looking to erect a single modest hut to their own design?
Thanks,
- RoryD
I once had a £700+ bill from a structural engineer to design a flitch beam, which turned out to be a standard RSJ...but given Lee's experience it would be worth asking for a price if you had something unusual to build and wanted to be sure about it
The architect working on our project(6 huts, all different designs) consulted an engineer on a couple of things and it cost £115 in total. However he was insistant that we needed a topographical survey for each hut which was £400+VAT. I couldn't have done the project without some profesional input but if you have some knowledge of planning, building, engineering it would be easier to make a judgement about how belt and braces you want or need to be and what you can get away with from a planning and safety point of view
The cost of paying a structural engineer would be a high % of the cost of the hut and therefore not very good value, as already said. So unless you have come up with something that's never been done before (?) there should be enough public domain info available (for all existing building methods) to allow you to build something to your own design, with some common sense applied, in order to achieve a structurally sound building.
And at 30m2 or less of a footprint what can go wrong? 😮😲😷
Hi Rory. Engineering is a valuable/essential consideration, but professional engineers can be a bit like lawyers, for understandable reasons... extremely cautious and tending towards worry.. They have their rigorous training and professional indemnity.
I've had enough experience of engineers in (non hut building projects) to understand that there are multiple ways of satisfying structural calculations. 10 different projects will likely produce 10 different solutions from 10 engineers.
One issue is that engineers calculate potential loads in extreme circumstances ...hurricanes + snow loads etc. Very rare, but possible events. The result is mostly going to be a robust building but at a significantly higher cost in resources including money. That might be fine for the security it should give you, regardless of whether or not you need one for satisfying regulations, if you don't mind the costs.
I'd say if you use a straightforward building system for a hut and nothing too ambitious re shape etc, there's little point, and no regulatory need, to pay an engineer £3-400 for calculations, and possibly £00's more for the structural integrity required.
As an epilogue I'm currently building a fairly ambitious hut (timber stud structure but complex shape) on an awkward sloping site, without engineering drawings. I now need to retrofit some engineering stability which I didn't foresee earlier when it would have been easier, better and cheaper.
You find out how far you can go often by going a little too far!