Do I need a structural surveyor or a structural engineer?

[Theolittle]

I have had subsidence investigations. The company said no subsidence but they recommended a structural engineer look at the suitability of the joists. I have a quote from a structural engineer that was recommended by a friend who is a retired builder. It’s £500 for visual inspection and a report

Just wondered if anyone else had a similar experience. Is the visual report always the first step then further investigation work might be needed? I’m worried about costs ramping up

And ChatGPT tells me its usually surveyors that do the inspection reports but if I need more remedial work would an engineer be best to start with?

That is half the price of a structural engineer company.

You need a structural engineer to do a structural survey, this usually starts from £1000 upwards.

A 'surveyor' is just someone RICS accredited who looks at the visual condition of a house. They sometime call the 'structural' surveys but they are not they are just more in dept home buyer surveys and anything the spot they will tell you to hire a professional structural engineer to check. They usually start at £500 upwards.

Is the guy an actual ENGINEER who is doing mates rates or just a surveyor?

He has MEng CEng MICE

This is up North so might be cheaper!

A retired builder friend of mine spoke to the company in advance as he used to deal with them a lot. So possibly an element of mates rates but I’ve spelled out what I want. It’s a visual inspection only, anything more intrusive would be extra

OP, it depends for what purpose you want this done.
If there are cracks in the house, interior or exterior, you could call your insurers. They would likely send someone out, knowledgeable but not fully qualified in subsidence. If they felt it needed further investigation, they would recommend an engineers report, that would be at your expense initially. If it was deemed subsidence, then the cost of the report is taken as 'part of the claim'. However, usually the excess for subsidence is normally £1k. I guess to put off every tom, dick and harry asking for expensive reports for no reason.
Before you go any further, I'd ring your insurers, as anything you are currently paying for may not be covered and also, you'd have to tell your insurers if subsidence is confirmed - and possibly start the process again!

TSS yes I’ve already done that and it’s not subsidence 👍

The cracks are all internal at the front of the house. The subsidence survey (that took around a year and seems to have been paid for by insurance company as they’ve not sent a bill) recommended a structural engineer

I'm in the north east and couldn't find any for under £1,200 (for inspection and report) when I spent a year looking.

If he is qualified he might just be doing it for mates rates but you should check with him to see what you get for that.