Re: Re: Architect Registration

It is extremely difficult to prepare a design code for foundations that covers a broad area and have a good balance with economy at the same time.
The government will never take responsibility as foundattions are too volatile.

You have to have an engineer to sign off on all structural elements anyway, so you are as well to get him to design the foundations. A good engineer will save his fee in reduced costs of materials and labour, so you will get it cheaper as well as it being insured. I recently designed a slab foundation for a nursing home that cost just 60% (in materials) of a traditional strip. Its not that the ground was particularly good or the loads were light, its just that I took the time to carry out the calcs.

My fee was in the region of 10% of the cost, so they were up 30% with insurance……. a good deal