here's the story............
i live in a timber framed brick skinned detatched house. the house spans 5.2m. theres one wall that runs from front to back. this wall is staggered, from front (hallway/lounge) it is 4.9m long then staggered out about 1.5m (kitchen/dinning area) and continues for 2.7m. it is this 2.7m wall that i would like to take down to increse the kitchen area. all the walls in the house are 3" stud walls.

i had a builder round who said that the wall is fine to take down and that he'd 'just' put 2 9x2 timbers in the walls place to take the 'bounce' out of the floor above. i being sceptical, rang the council who said that i could not do that and would need to get calc's and put the correct steel/rsj/lintel in it's place. that all makes sense my question is how much so i expect to pay for the calc's and building reg application on top of the £149 +vat that the council wants as i am getting some quotes of £500 +?

i hope this all makes sense