Opening a bricked up fireplace and installing a decorative one - do I need a builder, handyman or a fireplace specialist?

[JesusTapdancingChrist]

I have zero clue about house stuff. Have only done the most basic DIY since buying my house earlier this year.

Living room has a chimney breast wall which is bricked up. I have bought a (😍😍) Victorian fireplace + wood surround on eBay which I want to have fitted, purely for decorative purposes (so no chimney stuff required). Want a small hearth fitted in front as well.

Can anyone tell me who I need for the job and a ballpark figure of how much it would cost? I don't have a big budget so am probably limited in my options but want it done right but don't want to be ripped off!

Am not experienced or confident enough with DIY to try it myself.

Any tips would be super gratefully received 🙂.

So this is an example of what I currently have (but mine is wider).

And this is roughly what the finished job would look like.

Hi there. This is exactly what I want to do. I can see this was a while ago. How did you get on? Were you able to do it yourself?

We are in process of doing this. We had to pay £100+ vat for a structural engineer to specify the lintel (chimney breasts are often structural). Then about £300+vat for a builder to break open the fireplace to the measurements of the fire and install the lintel.

The rest we are doing ourselves, which is fix the floor, put in a slate, and put in the fireplace and screw the surround to the wall.