Your ad can replace the one shown here from just £8.99 / month. – Click here for more info.

The Essential Guide » The Planning Stage » Which "Specialists" Trades & Services Will We Need to Help With Our Self Build ?

Which other “specialists” may we need at the early stages and throughout the project?

Introduction:

Most Self Builders and Renovators will use the services of a “Design Professional”, usually an Architect, Draughtsman, or Planning Consultant

In many cases these are the only “specialist” people needed for small residential projects.

Any one of these people can usually advise you and help you to come up with layouts and designs which will be acceptable as part of a Planning Application, and they will also usually look after preparing the Building Regulations applications (or if they can’t they will usually know someone who can).

What other services they can offer and you would like them to provide will be agreed between the two of you, but their scope of work will be limited to their specialist field(s)

Unfortunately, not all projects are simple and straightforward.

On occasions, there are circumstances and problems which are inherent with the site or the surrounding infrastructure, - or there will be something associated with your design ideas and wishes, which will make it necessary to bring on board other types of professionals.

If, for example, on a new build, you have a sloping site, poor ground conditions, or complications with existing drainage. - Or, if your design involves work in basements, concrete walling, some form of unusual structural components, steel frames, swimming pools, or anything which ventures too far away from the “standard” aspects of building which are found in a “standard house”, you may find that you need to bring in one or more specialists, such as a “Foundation Engineer” “Drainage Engineer”, “Structural Engineer”, a “Damp Specialist” or a “Structural Surveyor”.

If you have elaborate plans for what you want to do with the external design and appearance or with some parts of the inside of the building, the finishes, features such as ventilation, home automation, solar panelling etc, you may also need to bring in someone to assist

Your main designer will advise you on what sort of specialist you may need to employ for any particular areas of the project. Don’t worry if you can’t “talk the talk” to these people. If you just point them at the job and show them the main drawings, they should be able to take it from there, and advise YOU on what they need to do.

Before you take on any of these specialists, make sure that you feel confident in their abilities.

· Do they have references?

· Are they a long established company?

· Do they appear to have the subject “nailed” when they talk to you?

· Do they inspire you with confidence?

If you are not happy with ANY aspect of the people you first discuss your project with, just move on. Don’t feel obliged to use them because they “got back to you” first.

Who does what?

I’ll briefly list some of the types of specialists and describe the sort of work they do.

You should be able to find most of them within the trade directory on this site, under their individual headings:

Note: Although your particular project will usually be a major event your lives, it will be “just another little job” to many of these companies. – You may think that your “sloping site” or “major settlement problem” is going to present “significant design problems”, for any type of specialist designer, and you may be tempted to head for the “big companies” for help and advice. These companies may be based a good distance away from where your site is located.

In fact, it is not usually the case that you need to go to the “big guys” to help you with your project. MOST, if not all specialist companies, whether they are “Local” or “National” will be able to cope with fairly substantial and complicated work. – Just check that they are qualified and suitably insured so that their work is fully guaranteed before you sign anything.

Having said that, - I’m not telling you not to contact the “big guys”, - actually I have used some of them on projects myself and many of them have “Local offices” as well as a “National Base”. If they have a local presence, then they will often run each local office as a separate entity, which helps to keep their costs down. – Just be aware that although you may think that the job you need doing is “large and complex”, in fact ALL the specialist companies in that particular field will probably be JUST those sorts of jobs, day in day out! – The main reason for me saying that small guys are sometimes better is that big companies often come with high overheads and high price tags. – Just be aware that’s all!

Foundation Engineers:

Many of these companies will be able to take on a fairly broad scope of work. Work in the area of “Foundations” can include many aspects (drainage / concreting / reinforcing etc), so, depending on the size of company and their qualifications, as well as standard foundation design, they will often also cover piling, larger scale groundworks, reinforced and mass foundations, possibly basic “retaining” structures ( temporary and permanent), basement design and even some of the more complicated drainage design work.

They will usually be able to survey the site, liaise with your main designer, and produce drawings, calculations and specifications which you will need to include as part of your Building Regulations application.

You will normally deal with just one Engineer, who will look after the whole of your project. He will then coordinate with others in the office to produce whatever work your project needs.

Drainage Engineers:

As opposed to some of the other types of Engineers who often are can often wear “different hats”, if a company advertises itselfas “Drainage Engineers” there is a good chance that that is exactly what they do, and they are unlikely to cover many other aspects of design.

However, if they are local to you, and on your project you need drainage and some other specialist design services, it’s probably still worth contacting them. - If they can’t provide everything you need themselves, you will often find that they are linked up with other local specialists who you may not have come across who could be ideal for you, and who they can put you in contact with.

Basement Designers / Engineers / Specialists:

If you need basement design, surveys or repair, retaining walls, concrete slabs of any type, and anything which is associated with basements these will usually be the best people to head for.

Other types of designers will often cover this sort of work, but a company who market themselves as “specialists” in THIS particular area, will often be the best your best option, simply because the work is a little different from some of the more straightforward structural jobs associated with housing.

Again, because basements design covers a whole raft of structural elements, these companies may not only be able to help you with your basement, they may also be able to help you with some of the other structural matters on your project. – It’s worth asking anyway!

Civil Engineers:

Your project will not interest many “Civil Engineering” companies, either in the design sense, or carrying out the works. “Civil Engineers” tends to be the term used to describe the big National or Regional companies who build things like bridges, office blocks, and other large contracts.

These sort of companies are not usually really geared up to work on “one off” residential projects, but again, it’s always worth a phone call to find out (just remember what I said about big companies with big overheads though!).

You may find that some of the smaller local companies mention “Civil Engineering works” and “Civil Engineering design” in the description of work they cover. - It may be that they what they are actually describing are “Ground Works (foundations)” and smaller “Retaining Works” but for simplicity they lump everything together under the title of “Civil Engineering works”.

In fact, all of this sort of work is related in many ways, and “the boundaries” of what one company can do and can’t do often get a bit blurred. – So, yet again, a phone call to the offices to ask if they would be interested in a particular aspect of your project won’t do any harm. – Don’t take it personally though if you get “short shrift!” – Just move on and find someone else who is more interested in you and your project!

Roofing Engineers:

You may think that you need to find a roofing engineer to design your roof, especially if it is complicated. This in fact is probably not the case.

Roofing Engineers as a “specialist entity” are actually fairly rare. - They DO exist, but they will tend to be more concerned with major roofing structures such as stadiums, and large public building, than they are in designing you roof truss layout. The likelihood of you needing to find one for a one off housing project are pretty minimal.

What will tend to happen, with all but the most complicated roof designs, is that your main designer will take care of the roof design work. - Then, if it is a “trussed” roof, the company you buy the trusses from will include in their prices for all the design calculations to be done.

The suppliers HAVE to do these calculations in order to be able to know what timbers they will need to use in making the trusses, and how much work will be involved in manufacturing them. - So it makes sense for them to include these calculations as part of their package.

These calculations can be then passed straight on to the Building Regs department. – If you don’t have them to hand when you initially apply for Building Regulations approval, as long as you make a note that they are “to follow”, a note will be made on the “conditional approval” notice, and you will be able to forward them as soon as you have them to hand. – But at least 2 – 3 weeks prior to starting the roofing works.

If the roof is a “traditional” “ Hand cut” roof, built piece by piece by your joiners, then either your main designer will produce the calculations you need for Building Regs or you will need to bring in someone who can produce them for you. – If your designer can’t produce them personally they will usually have contact details for people who can help.

Structural Engineers:

These are the more popular target for Self Builders and Renovators to head for when any type of drainage, foundation, or structural work of any kind is needed.

That is because Structural Engineers can often wear “a number of hats” and that can allow them to offer you a “one stop shop”, where all the structural / foundation / drainage damp problems can be sorted out at once. – This “all encompassing” aspect of their set up can be very useful to you when the whole thing is a big “unknown”. It means that you can just hand everything over to, and deal with one person or one office for everything.

Structural Engineers will usually be able to provide help with any sort of foundation problems. They will also generally cover most aspects of drainage, temporary shoring, retaining walls, slab formation, special details in the main structure, roofing problems, and basically anything similar! - They will even often be able to help you with things like elaborate landscaping features / swimming pools etc.

If you take on one of these companies, you will normally work with one Engineer who will be responsible for all the different aspects of the project. He / she will then also coordinate with your main designer and “swap” information in order to complete the design work.

Most of the work they produce could be full of technical specifications and calculations which you know nothing about. – You don’t really need to! - You just need to pass all this information of, a) To Building Regs, for approval, and b) To all the Sub Contractors who are tendering for the work. - Each Sub Contractor will need a full set of both “Architects” and “Engineers” drawings, specifications and calculations in order to be able to accurately price the work (if they are not given these then you may find them coming back to you for “extra payments” claiming that they priced on incomplete information).

Structural Surveyors:

A Structural Surveyor will be needed to:

1) Survey existing Buildings prior to starting a major renovation project, and / or to provide a report to the mortgage company.

They will prepare a report on the structural elements of the building, the foundations, possibly the drainage, and maybe some of the “pertinent” external elements which may affect the overall project (adjacent walls, outbuildings, tree roots etc). They may also be required to survey adjacent buildings which may be affected by the planned new works. – Often adjacent buildings can be negatively affected as the new work is carried out. Settlement is a problem, or other movement. Structural Surveyors will record in writing and photographically the state of any existing structure which could possibly be affected by the new development. This report will be used in the event of any problems or claims made for damage to those elements.

The reports can vary in complexity and cost depending on the nature of the project. If you are planning a major Renovation or Conversion project, the report will often need to be very detailed. - The main “Designer” and “Structural Engineer” will use this report as a basis on which they will prepare their own initial designs and drawings.

2) Structural Surveyors will also usually monitor the progress of renovation, conversion or new projects in order to conform with the mortgage provider’s requirements prior to requests for them to release “stage payment” funds.

Damp Specialists:

These people are usually only required in Renovation and Conversion works. They are normally brought in to “fix a problem” such as failure of either “damp proof courses” (dpc’s), or “damp proof membranes” (dpm’s).

They can also help when there are problems wood decay, insect infestation, failure of wall ties, or lack of ventilation which may have caused damp.

In theory, there will rarely be a need for their services in “new build” works. The “Main Designer” will usually be quite capable of covering all the Damp proofing requirements for new buildings.

However, if the new building will include a basement, then a “Basement Specialist” may be brought in to deal with anything of a unique nature, which could outside the scope or experience of the main designer.

If you are considering buying an existing property which is more than 15 – 20 years old, there is a reasonable chance that you may find there are one or two damp problems starting to develop. A “Structural Survey” may highlight such problems.

If you then intend to proceed with the project you will often need to bring in a Damp Specialist who will recommend what actions you should take based on the structural report.

On other occasions, you may already be living in a property which is developing a damp problem. Rather than the Structural Survey, in such cases you will be better going straight to the Damp Specialist who should be able to locate the source of the problem, and make recommendations

Ventilation Engineers:

These are normally people who work on more commercial types of projects, and who you will not often need on a simple residential project, unless it incorporates very complex ventilation requirements (possibly full house air conditioning).

Normally your main designer will be capable of specifying everything you will need in the way of ventilation requirements to satisfy Building Regulations.

Audio Visual / Home Automation Designers:

With the increase in popularity of home automation, especially in the Self Build and Renovation market, these companies are becoming more and more common around the UK.

You will now usually be able to find someone suitable fairly close at hand ( you can find a selection of companies in the Trade Directory on this site).

If you have been thinking about installing some level of automation in your new home, you will usually find that you need to have some “Professional input” into designing a suitable system.

The systems used for home automation are generally installed separately from your standard electrical installation work, but they will often be linked into it. - They require a different field of expertise and knowledge from standard electrical installation, and as such will require specialist attention.

You will normally need to prepare 2 different sets of drawings and specifications, one for the standard “Electrical Installation” and one for the “Home Automation Installation”. They will both refer to each other where they “overlap” but will in all other aspects, be separate.

Before you contact anyone, you would be advised to try to familiarize yourself with what sort of system you would like for your project (you could go to the Permanent Self Build exhibition in Swindon to learn about available systems and contact potentially suitable suppliers).

Solar Heating / Ground Source / Air Source Engineers / Specialists:

Again, this is an area which is growing in popularity, especially in the Self Build and Property Renovation markets.

The design and installation methods that these new and often more eco friendly systems incorporate, are not something that your standard “Plumbing and Heating” Engineer will usually be up to speed on.

All heating and hot water systems work on generally the same principals (which have been around for many years), but the intricacies of their design and methods of installation vary greatly. - With many of the newly emerging “eco” products and ideas you often find that there is a great deal of “individuality” to the systems, and that each “make” requires its own specially trained designers and installers. – This is something which will probably become more standardised in a few years.

As with the Home automation, eco systems will generally work in coordination with, but separately from, your standard heating and hot water systems. So, again you will need to provide two sets of drawings, specifications and other information to send out to allow to tendering for the work.

« return to guide contents

Your ad can replace the one shown here from just £8.99 / month. – Click here for more info.