A structural engineer will be needed to specify the type of beam you need.

You're not spanning 27'. Fagitaboudit. Ever see a three car garage without a wall dividing one bay? Yeah, me neither.

I'm sure an unsupported 27' beam is possible. It'll likely be at a price you won't want to pay.

A 300K-600K+-+++ project like this needs better professionals involved than you currently are working with if you have to come online and ask questions like that. 5K is a joke.

Our 19' steel beam flush to the ceiling was about $5k. No columns. It was either 10" or 12" deep, I forget which.

That big I would assume we are talking steel if it's even possible. General rule is 1/2" deep steel beam for every 1' it supports, so you are talking about something like a 14" beam. I assume such things exist but I'm no expert.

You should be having the conversation with your contractor and/or engineer.

Our 20' engineered wood beams were around $5k. Our whole addition project, which is nearing completion, was three stories, 75% interior space and 25% porch space, and price will come out at around or a bit over 300k. Engineers, builder, and architect worked together on the plan. With regards to the beams themselves, I just asked if they could make it in such a way that we could box it with a decorative wood facade, since the beam itself looks like a bunch of wood sandwiched together. I'm in New England USA, about 1 hour from the nearest medium-sized metro. Hope that helps.

Edit to add: if I recall correctly, there was some sort of cut off where over something like 25' span was going to get more spendy with how the beams had to be configured or made. So we'd originally hoped for a 25x30 foot addition and scaled back to a 20x25 foot plus added a third floor. Adding the third floor gave us the extra space we wanted and was estimated to be around cost neutral versus the larger footprint. (We have an incredible view too) Your mileage may vary here because your site and situation are different. Something to keep in your pocket perhaps.

Edit again to add a few other ideas: We repurposed windows we had, Anderson custom windows, that saved a lot of money. We also got Anderson customer patio doors, top of the line, on Craigslist that were in like new condition for half of new price, plus some work done at a good price because it happened the guy was a skilled roofer with good reputation. If you enjoy negotiation, repurposing, and bargain shopping, those can be a good way to save money, so long as you have a good support team of experts in place. I always got experts to weigh in before I made a purchase, so that I didn't end up getting something that wouldn't work. We saved many thousands that way. The end project is costing more than we set out to spend, but that's the result of choices in other areas where we decided to go above and beyond.

Good luck!

Don't confuse structure and style. Get what you need to hold your house up -- you can make it work with your style!! At or near the end of an island usually isn't a problem.

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If you can't stand any of these examples, then prepare to pony up in the five figures for a real spanning beam or reconsider your plan.

From a design perspective structure and style are inseparable. Each must be taken into consideration so they work together versus fighting each other. When the structure get's in the way you need to either change the structure or find a way to properly integrate it into the design/style, it can't just look like a workaround.

Style/design means nothing if your house is falling down. Do the right thing & get multiple eyes on this project. Don't just take the work of one contractor that gives you a low price.

Are these actual architect drawings, have you even employed an architect? This seems to be a very extensive 'renovation'. Have you considered the cost of demolishing the exiting house and doing a total rebuild, or alternatively selling the current property and building on vacant land. Questions about supporting beams really shouldn't be something you have to ask others about - your architect, engineer and build team should know all about this and be able to answer any of your questions. Having a span that big in a residential property is very much out of the ordinary especially if you are going to add another storey on top. You need top notch people for this project and very deep pockets.

Achieving a respectful balance between design and structure dose not mean compromising the structure for the design or vice verse. In this project there is an unwanted support post given the proposed beam, there are two choices, find a way to incorporated the post into the design or change the beam to eliminate the need for the post. Obviously it is up to the Structural Engineer to determine if there is a viable beam alternative, if not then the designer is going to have to find a way to deal with it. Either way there will be an additional cost, a beefed up beam will cost more money and it will also cost money to clad a post, it's a game of differentials.

I am a homeowner and have a similar need for posts (to hold up new basement stairwell hole). My home is modern/industrial. Speaking only to style here... Beams/posts I have been looking at include steel i-beam, thick, reclaimed wood posts (or cladding using reclaimed/industrial wood), glue-lam (laminated wood) posts, or other metal (square-shaped) posts. Consider also to improve the look of a functional post that you can face a functional post with wood, stain or paint as you want, dress it up with metal (fastener) hardware, or face it with stone. If you look at Eichler homes they use exposed wood posts and beams for a great modern look.