Free initial call
Whether the work is within our competence at all.
Surrey · Technical review, calculations and opinion
"Engineer"
"Engineer"
is not a protected title.
In the UK anyone may call themselves an engineer, with any training or none. CEng and IEng are protected and require registration you can verify. So we publish what we hold, and we turn down work outside our competence.
- 2022trading since
- Surreybased in
- Shownon request
- Scopein writing
What we do
Four services, within a stated competence
Scope and assumptions written down, and commissions outside our competence declined rather than attempted.
Technical review
Independent review of designs, calculations, specifications or proposals.
See the programCalculations and assessment
Calculations and technical assessment, with the inputs and assumptions recorded.
See the programExisting structures
Assessment of existing structures, with unexamined elements listed rather than assumed sound.
See the programIndependent opinion
Technical opinion for owners, purchasers and advisers, within a stated scope.
See the program
How it works
How we work
Assess competence before accepting a commission, write the scope and assumptions into the output, list what could not be inspected, and decline to certify what only a building control body can.
Scope in writing
What is included, excluded and assumed.
Assessed to a stated basis
With the inputs and their sources recorded.
Reported with its limits
Including what would invalidate the conclusion.
Working together
Ways to work with us
Quoted per commission after an initial call. Surveys, opening up and specialist testing by others are separate.
A single review
One set of documents or one question.
- Competence confirmed first
- Findings in writing
- Assumptions recorded
- Fixed fee agreed
- Honest when nothing is wrong
A commission
Calculations, assessment or ongoing technical support.
- Scope written before starting
- Inputs and sources recorded
- Unexamined elements listed
- Professional indemnity insured
- Revisited if inputs change
What we will not do
Said plainly, because competence duties apply.
- No work outside our competence
- No protected title we lack
- No Building Regulations certification
- No statutory inspection
- No assuming hidden elements are sound
Every engagement is quoted after a free consultation. No subscription.
How we work
A consultancy that tells you the word means nothing
KH Technical Services Ltd is a private limited company registered in England and Wales under company number 14309757, based at Virginia Water in Surrey and trading since August 2022. The work is engineering related scientific and technical consulting, and other engineering activities: technical review, calculations and assessment, work on existing structures, and independent opinion.
Clients reasonably assume the word engineer carries a qualification behind it. In the United Kingdom it does not: the title is unprotected and anyone may use it. What is protected is registration with the Engineering Council as a Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer or Engineering Technician, and that registration is verifiable on a public register. So we publish what is actually held rather than leaning on a word that signals nothing. Alongside that, the competence duties attaching to building work require a designer to decline an appointment they are not competent to carry out, and we do. We are also not a building control body: we do not certify Building Regulations compliance or statutory approval, and we say so rather than letting a report be read as a certificate.
Frequently asked
The questions we get most
Is "engineer" really not a protected title here?
Correct, and it surprises most people. In the UK anyone may describe themselves as an engineer regardless of training. What is protected is Engineering Council registration — Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer, Engineering Technician — which requires assessment and appears on a public register. Ask anyone claiming CEng or IEng for their registration and check it. That includes us.
Can you certify that the work complies with Building Regulations?
No. We are not a building control body and not an approved inspector, and statutory approval is a decision for the building control body. We can give a reasoned engineering opinion on whether something appears to meet a particular requirement, and we will state clearly on the document that it is an opinion rather than a certificate, because the two get confused with real consequences.
Why would you turn down work?
Because the competence duties on building work require a designer not to accept an appointment for work they are not competent to carry out, and because it is the right answer anyway. If a commission needs a discipline or a level of specialism we do not have, taking it on helps nobody. We will say so at the first call and point you somewhere better.
Your assessment says it is adequate. Does that cover a change of use?
No, and this is the most common misunderstanding about engineering outputs. An assessment is valid only for the assumptions and the scope stated in it. Change the loading, the use, the layout or the information it relied on, and it needs revisiting. We write that into the document so nobody relies on it beyond its basis.
Can you tell me the hidden structure is sound without opening up?
Not honestly. Concealed elements, previous alterations and historical loading often cannot be established without opening up, so we list what we could not inspect rather than treating it as adequate. If the question genuinely matters, opening up is the answer, and we will say so even though it adds cost and time.
Do you need our survey data verified?
We will use the survey, drawings and loadings you supply, and we do not independently verify them unless you instruct us to. That is normal practice and worth being explicit about, because an assessment built on inaccurate inputs is wrong however good the calculation is. We record which figures came from where.
Got something that needs an engineering view?
A free initial call to establish whether it is within our competence.