Openings in load-bearing walls
A wall out, a steel beam in, and a calculation that stands behind it.
Taking out a load-bearing wall is the smallest job with the largest risk. A wall goes and the load it carried has to travel somewhere else. If that goes wrong you do not notice on the day; you notice six months later, as a crack above a door frame upstairs.
So one order applies here and we do not depart from it: a structural engineer (constructeur) establishes what is needed, then there is a price, then demolition. The calculation sets the steel section, the bearings, the temporary propping and how the bearings are built. You keep that document; it is what you hand over when you later sell the house.
The work itself is short. Propping, cutting, demolition, setting the beam and building it in takes two to three days in a normal house. Plastering, painting and making good the floor edge follow, and that is usually the longer part.
- How to tell whether a wall carries
- A wall at right angles to the floor joists, a wall that reappears in the same place on every storey, and a wall thicker than about ten centimetres are three indications, not proof. In terraced houses the party walls between you and the neighbours always carry. For internal walls it depends on the building period. We establish it at the survey with a core drill and, where possible, with the original building drawing from the municipal archive.
- What is arranged with the neighbours
- An opening in a party wall you share with the neighbours means working inside their structure too. That calls for discussion beforehand and a written record of the existing condition on their side, with photographs. We make that record and give it to both parties, so that afterwards there is no argument about which crack was already there.
- Notifying the municipality
- Altering a load-bearing structure normally requires an environmental permit for the technical building activity (omgevingsvergunning), even when nothing changes on the outside. We handle that application with the calculation attached. On a listed building or a house inside a protected village area a second track is added and the procedure takes longer.
Roughly what it costs
Price ranges for this area, so you can see whether your plan and your budget meet before anyone comes round. Each line states what explains the difference between the bottom and the top of the range.
| Work | Range | What explains the spread |
|---|---|---|
| Extension, single storeyper m² of floor area, shell through to finished | € 2.000 to € 3.200 | Foundation on strip footings or on piles, how much glass goes into the rear wall, and the level of floor, ceiling and services. |
| Loft conversion, full storeyper project, terraced house | € 45.000 to € 85.000 | Whether the party walls run down to the foundation, whether a fixed staircase has to be added, and the thickness of the insulation against the headroom you want. |
| Dormer to the reareach, around 3 metres wide | € 8.000 to € 15.000 | Width and window layout, whether roof purlins have to be interrupted, and whether the roof boarding and insulation are renewed at the same time. |
| Opening in a load-bearing wallper opening, 3 to 4 metres | € 4.000 to € 9.000 | The span and therefore the weight of the steel beam, how easily it can be brought in, and how much plastering and painting follows. |
| Complete bathroomper bathroom of 5 to 8 m², excluding tiles and sanitary ware | € 12.000 to € 25.000 | Moving waste pipes, the condition of the existing floor, and whether the ventilation has to be replaced. |
| Kitchen, building work onlyper kitchen, excluding the kitchen units themselves | € 4.000 to € 10.000 | Whether a wall has to go, how far water and waste are moved, and whether an extraction duct to the outside is installed. |
| Repointing brickworkper elevation of a terraced house | € 3.500 to € 7.000 | Height and therefore scaffolding, raking out by grinder or by hand, and whether a lime mortar is required inside a protected village area. |
| Rot repair in a window frameper affected spot | € 250 to € 900 | How far the rot has gone and whether the profile can still be repaired or the section has to be replaced. |
All amounts include Dutch VAT (btw) and apply to houses in this area. They exist so you can judge whether your plan and your budget meet; they do not replace a quotation. After the survey at your house you receive a fixed price for the work as described.
How it runs, from the first phone call to handover
Nine steps. Each one states who is there, how long it takes and what you pay at that moment. On the steps where money actually changes hands, the amount is set in the heading face under "What you pay" and the step number is filled in. Handover is called oplevering in Dutch, and it is the step your contract will refer to.
Step 1: Phone call
You call, or leave a callback request. We ask about the type of work, the year the house was built, the place and roughly what you have in mind. By the end of that call you know whether this is work we take on and whether your budget and your plan meet. If they do not, we say so there and then.
- Who is there
- You and the work planner
- How long
- 15 minutes, within one working day
- What you pay
- Nothing
Step 2: Survey at your house
We come round, measure up, look in the crawl space (kruipruimte) and the loft, and assess the foundation, the structure and the connections to the existing house. For a loft conversion or a structural opening we establish whether a structural engineer (constructeur) is needed. You hear on the spot which price range is realistic.
- Who is there
- You and the site manager
- How long
- 45 to 90 minutes, within two weeks
- What you pay
- Nothing
Step 3: Quotation with a fixed price
You receive a quotation (offerte) with a fixed price for the work as described, a list of what is explicitly not included, and provisional sums (stelposten) for items you choose yourself. No figure in it is an estimate: what the quotation says stands, as long as the work does not change.
- Who is there
- We supply it, you read it
- How long
- Within five working days of the survey
- What you pay
- Nothing
Step 4: Design, calculation and permit
Only where the work requires it. Drawings, a structural calculation, and the permit application (omgevingsvergunning, the Dutch building permit) with the municipality of Stichtse Vecht or De Ronde Venen. If the permit is refused, the project stops and you pay for this phase only, at an amount stated on the quotation in advance.
- Who is there
- Draughtsman, structural engineer and the municipality
- How long
- 4 to 12 weeks, depending on the procedure
- What you pay
- The cost of this phase, named separately on the quotation
Step 5: Planning and start date
The start date is fixed in writing, with a week by week plan and the days on which it will be loud or dusty. Materials with long lead times are ordered in this phase, so the job does not come to a halt halfway through waiting for a window frame.
- Who is there
- You and the work planner
- How long
- 1 to 2 weeks
- What you pay
- Nothing
Step 6: Work starts on site
Day one: fencing, floor protection, a place to unload, and demolition. From this day there is one site manager who is your point of contact and whom you can call directly on working days.
- Who is there
- The site manager and the crew
- How long
- Day 1
- What you pay
- First instalment: 30 per cent
Step 7: Shell complete
Foundation, structure, brickwork, roof and window frames are in place and the work is wind and watertight. This is the moment you can stand in the new space for the first time, and the last moment changes are possible without demolition.
- Who is there
- The site manager walks it through with you
- How long
- Depends on the job, usually after 3 to 6 weeks
- What you pay
- Second instalment: 30 per cent
Step 8: Services and fit-out
Electrics, water, heating and ventilation are installed and tested. Then plastering, floors, tiling and painting. This phase is quiet but long; it is the phase in which people get impatient and in which the weekly plan matters most.
- Who is there
- Installer, plasterer and fit-out crew
- How long
- 2 to 5 weeks
- What you pay
- Third instalment: 30 per cent
Step 9: Handover and snagging list
We walk the work through together and write down everything you see, however small. In Dutch this step is the oplevering and the list is the opleverlijst. That list is cleared within fifteen working days. Only once every point on it is signed off does the last instalment fall due.
- Who is there
- You and the site manager
- How long
- 1 to 2 hours, points cleared within 15 working days
- What you pay
- Final instalment: 10 per cent, after the snagging list is cleared
The payment schedule
Nothing is paid in advance before work starts.
Each block in the bar is as wide as its share of the contract sum (aanneemsom). The pale block on the right is the final 10 per cent: it only falls due after handover (oplevering), once every point on the snagging list has been dealt with.
| Instalment | Share | When |
|---|---|---|
| First instalment | 30% | The day work starts on site |
| Second instalment | 30% | Shell complete, the work is wind and watertight |
| Third instalment | 30% | Services tested and fit-out complete |
| Final instalment | 10% | After handover, once every snagging point is cleared |
| Together | 100% |
The cost of drawings, the structural calculation and the permit sits outside these four instalments and is named separately on the quotation, so you can see what you would be out of pocket if a permit is unexpectedly refused. The total being paid in instalments is the contract sum, called the aanneemsom in your contract.
Questions about this work
How long does it take?
Two to three days on site for the structural part. Then another three to five days for plastering, painting and making good the floor edge. The preparation, with calculation and permit, takes four to eight weeks and comes before those days.
Can the beam be hidden?
Usually. A beam can be taken up into the floor if the joist layout allows, or hidden in a narrow dropped ceiling. Hiding it completely flat costs extra height and sometimes a heavier section. We show both options at quotation stage with the price difference attached.
Do I have to ask the neighbours for permission?
Work inside a shared party wall requires discussion with the neighbours and is governed by Dutch neighbour law (burenrecht). We make a written record of the existing condition on both sides beforehand and share it with you and with them.
What if something unexpected appears during demolition?
Old chimney flues, a second cavity or pipework inside the wall turn up regularly. Work stops and you receive a price within two working days with the effect on the planning. It only continues after your written approval.
More about this work in this area
What does removing a load-bearing wall cost? For a normal living room opening of three to four metres, including the structural calculation, propping, steel beam, building in, plastering and making good the ceiling and floor edge, the price usually sits between 4,000 and 9,000 euros. The lower part of that range applies to a post-war house with a short span, the upper part to an old house along the Vecht where the bearing has to be taken into brickwork of variable quality.
The three items that make the amount are the span, the access and the making good. A five metre beam weighs enough that it can no longer be carried in by hand; then a crane or a demountable arrangement is added. And the plastering and painting after an opening is nearly always larger than people expect, because the join with the existing ceiling stays visible unless it is taken across the full width.
Never have an opening made without a calculation, even if someone tells you it is always done that way. When you sell the house, that calculation is the only thing you have in hand.
Talk through your plan
Calling is quickest and takes fifteen minutes. If you would rather be called back, choose a time slot that suits you.