engineer delays

helen87

we got our planning permission granted in early February and spoke to our engineer in relation to getting the plans ready for tender to contractors which he agreed to getting onto it straight away. Its now five weeks later an we have still received nothing from him, have called a few times and he promises to get onto it but still nothing.
My question is is getting ready for tender to contractors a huge process? i know we have to get all the internal layout finalised and decide where electrics are going and all that but should it take this long? And if he is working on it we should be asked for our opinions?
I know covid has made building a nightmare at the moment and we cant even start until the Government gives the green light but i want to be ready to get building as soon as possible.
How long did anyone else wait to go from planning approved to tender? TIA

Metric Tensor

There's a huge amount of difference in the level of detail required for tender/construction documents from the bare bones required for planning.

The engineer has to detail every facet of the building that will make it comply with the building regulations - foundations, insulation, air-tightness, fire safety, structural elements, accessible toilet(s), ventilation systems, etc., etc. All of this takes time and every professional I know is very busy. My guess would be that the majority of dwellings take longer than five weeks to get from grant of planning permission to tender/construction stage documents.

Next time you ring ask for a date of when the package will be ready and also ask for a list of what he wants you to contribute.

cheezums

helen87 wrote: »

we got our planning permission granted in early February and spoke to our engineer in relation to getting the plans ready for tender to contractors which he agreed to getting onto it straight away. Its now five weeks later an we have still received nothing from him, have called a few times and he promises to get onto it but still nothing.
My question is is getting ready for tender to contractors a huge process? i know we have to get all the internal layout finalised and decide where electrics are going and all that but should it take this long? And if he is working on it we should be asked for our opinions?
I know covid has made building a nightmare at the moment and we cant even start until the Government gives the green light but i want to be ready to get building as soon as possible.
How long did anyone else wait to go from planning approved to tender? TIA

my engineer got my tender drawings together very fast, in a few weeks but it was a very straightforward build. getting enough builders to tender was a different story. it took about 4 months for me to finally get three tenders and pick one. builders turning down work all over the place. it will even worse with all the covid delays.

helen87

Thanks for your responses, when you list out all that has to be done it is understandable that it will take time. It is a straightforward bungalow. I suppose i would have expected to be asked for some input by now though, he mentioned sending us a questionaire early on but no sign of that.
Suppose all i can do is keep in contact with him.