House Structural Engineers
Start
Skip to the finished picture
ROOF LOAD STEEL BEAMhidden above the doors LOAD PATHdown a pier at each end FOUNDATIONtrench fill under the back wall

Illustrative image

Why early

Almost everything is still open, until it quietly isn’t.

Structure is usually drawn heavier than it needs to be. The chances to make it lighter close one decision at a time.

Start your project See what is still open

The roof presses down.

One beam carries it across the doors.

A padstone under each end.

Down a pier each side.

Into a foundation, then the ground.

This whole route decides how heavy the beam must be.

The habit

A bigger beam is quicker to design, and nobody ever complains about one.

Over-specification is rarely carelessness. Re-Structured, a practice that writes openly about it, lists why.

  1. 01Not enough time
  2. 02Working outside their specialism
  3. 03Risk aversion late in a career
  4. 04Inexperience early in one
  5. 05Fear of an insurance claim
  6. 06Working to obsolete standards
  7. 07Poor software (spreadsheets)
  8. 08No review systems

Source: Re-Structured.

“when the excess is say only 20%, it can easily be missed”

Re-Structured

Source: Build It, “Structural Costs & How to Save Money on Structural Engineering”, case by Re-Structured. A third party’s figures, about a third party’s project.

How a kilo becomes a pound. Steel is bought by weight, so weight taken out of a design comes straight off the build cost. The bar shows the same saving against the whole job, which is what makes it worth an engineer’s afternoon.

Diagram drawn for this demo. The arithmetic is the source’s, not ours.

The knock-on effect

A heavier beam is never just a heavier beam.

Steel gets priced, but the cost does not stop there. and the load reaches everything under it. and every part below has less to carry.

Illustrative. Not a calculation and not a design.

One decision, all the way down. The beam answers first; the padstone, the pier and the foundation follow.
Key to the drawings
  • Existing masonry A flat tone: everything already there, cut or seen.
  • Concrete Aggregate triangles and fine dots, scattered at random: foundations, slabs, padstones, lean-mix cavity fill, encasement.
  • Undisturbed ground Basket weave, as a band that follows the ground line and fades out.
  • Load path Where the load goes, from the roof to the ground; dashed where it runs beyond the cut.
  • Load marks Arrows at the symbol weight: loads down onto a member, bearing up under a foundation.
  • Hidden, beyond or removed Out of the cut, beyond it, or taken out.
  • Cloud Confirm on site. Never a revision mark.
  • Break line The drawing stops; the building does not.

Lean

Same safety, same codes, less waste.

  1. 01The rules do not move.
  2. 02The margin does.
  3. 03Somebody reads it afterwards.

See the codes, named

THE CODES Drawn with a margin the margin Drawn lean taken out

Illustrative. Both meet the codes, safety factors included.

What lean takes out. Only the margin of convenience between what the codes require and what gets drawn.

Lean never means unsafe

If a member needs to be heavy, we draw it heavy and tell you why. Every design we issue meets the Building Regulations. We answer Building Control’s questions on our calculations as part of the job.

Where you are

What is still open, and what has already closed.

Five things decide what a structure costs. They close at different times.

Skip to the finished picture
Layout Fixed Openings and spans Fixed Structural approach Fixed Foundations Fixed Member sizes Closing

Just an idea

Nothing is drawn, so nothing is fixed yet. A change is a conversation.

Talking to an architect

Almost everything is still open. This is the best moment to call.

Drawings are being done

The layout is settling. Spans, openings and structure are still ours to shape.

Planning application in

The layout is with the planners. What holds it up is still open.

Planning granted

The outside is fixed. The structural decisions inside it, the expensive ones, are still open.

Out to builders for prices

Sizes are still open, and sizes are where most of the weight sits.

On site

Most decisions are made. We can still help, and quickly. Once the steel is ordered, the only thing left to save is your patience.

Why the stage matters. The same house. Fixed late, the opening is wider: less pier to land on, and a deeper beam.

Drawn for this demo. Not a design.

The whole matrix.
Stage Layout Openings and spans Structural approach Foundations Member sizes
Just an ideaOpenOpenOpenOpenOpen
Talking to an architectOpenOpenOpenOpenOpen
Drawings are being doneClosingOpenOpenOpenOpen
Planning application inFixedClosingOpenOpenOpen
Planning grantedFixedFixedOpenOpenOpen
Out to builders for pricesFixedFixedClosingClosingOpen
On siteFixedFixedFixedFixedClosing

The decisions that lock your structure

Your duties

On your own house, you are the client, and that comes with duties.

“A domestic client is any individual who has building work carried out on their home, or the home of a family member.”

GOV.UK, “Design and building work: meeting building requirements”

A domestic client

  1. “allocate enough time and resource for the building work to comply with building regulations”
  2. “appoint designers and contractors”
  3. “co-operate with anyone working on, or in relation to the project”

Source: GOV.UK, as above. Part 2A of the Building Regulations 2010, in force from 1 October 2023.

Three duties. Act on the first one first.

Time is the raw material a lean structure is made from. Appoint the structure early, with room for a review.

The earlier we are involved, the more of your structure is still worth optimising.

Tell us where you are up to. We reply within one working day.

Start your project See what we do