Optima Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd, Wollongong, NSW

We employed Optima, to design a tilt up concrete building consisting of a series of adjoining industrial units for our site in Mittagong. We were assured they had experience in this type of design work. The design took 3 months to be supplied. On receipt of the final design it was clear that although the structural integrity was good, achieving this was going to cost a lot more than it should. All I can say is a good structural engineer will provide a design that works and also achieves this using the minimum amount of material. The real cost of any project is in the materials, in our case cubic metres of concrete. When I challenged the designer on this issue he just dismissed me. We handed over $20,000 for an unsuitable design. We found another structural engineer , who had more experience in our type of project. The project has been completed now, on budget . We saved quite a lot in the reduction of materials. End notes: 1/ Find an engineer who specialises in your type of project. 2/ Get a preliminary design done, as a first step, and assess the design. 3/ Get some references for the structural engineer before you sign up for the final design work. Conclusion: I'd much rather have the $20,000 in my pocket. In reality they achieved nothing for us .