With our specialist capability in this challenging area we are able to help you resolve your building’s defects through the consistent use of a range of industry best practices including:
- Proactive management and validation of the building defects report to ensure that it is complete, clear and agreed by all parties.
- Early investigation and communication of any new issues as they arise to ensure agreement and alignment on ownership and accountability.
- Maintaining a positive, pragmatic and consultative style with the developers, builders and committee members
- The timely provision of education and awareness training where required so that all stakeholders are aware of their obligations and what is required to meet them.
- Maintaining and tracking all defects and planned remedial actions through to sign-off and removal from the building defects list.
The types of support and guidance that we can provide to the owner’s corporation to ensure building defects are effectively identified and resolved include, but is not limited to:
- Scope Of Work: Assist with notifying owners of the building inspections that will be undertaken, selecting suitable engineers and specialists to conduct the inspections, the collation of the building defects list and the preparation of the report that will drive the scope of work.
- Building Defects Report: Present the building defect report to the developer with or on behalf of the owner’s corporation and agreeing what must be rectified and within what specified timeframes.
- Management & Coordination: Supporting, guiding and coordinating any aspects of the rectification works project that are deemed to be the responsibility of the owner’s corporation including:
- Scheduling and attending the periodic defect progress review meetings
- Scheduling and facilitating any additional committee meetings as required, to make decisions regarding the rectification of defects
- Liaising with the Developer, builder, sub-contractors, engineers, building manager, councils, owners etc. to ensure they are aware of
- their obligations and overall project progress
- Manage the Strata Building Bond Inspection Scheme (SBBIS) stages and liaise with the building bond inspectors, builders and developers to ensure each stage of the SBBIS is completed correctly.
- Education & Awareness Training: Ensure the owners understand the different types of building defect and which are the responsibility of the developer, and which are the responsibility of the individual owner. We can also provide education to the Committee and owners on all relevant legislation and the obligations of the different parties, such as the Home Building Act 1989.
- Legal Advice & Guidance: We can provide your committee with guidance on legislative matters, such as what motions are required by the owner’s corporation in different situations and any key dates that apply.
- Fair Trading Lodgements: Finally, we can guide and support the owner’s corporation in the timely lodgement of any complaints against the Developer / Builder with Fair Trading should the need arise.
Below are a selection of some of the new developments where we have assisted the owner’s corporation in the rectification of defects:
- Large residential development in Macquarie Park & Medium residential development in Bondi Junction – Managed and ensured that all SBBIS stages were promptly scheduled, scoped and completed as part of a broad defect rectification project.
- Luxury medium residential development in Sydney CBD – Managed and coordinated the defect rectification process on behalf of the owner’s corporation, including attending and leading the weekly defects meetings on site with the building manager, developer and project manager, and providing status updates and milestone reports to the strata committee. The builder went into voluntary administration during this process so Strata Sense also assisted the owner’s corporation to lodge proof of debt against the builder.
- Medium residential development within an existing community association in North Sydney – This project was focused on the rectification of essential services defects (mainly dampers). In this instance, we assisted the owner’s corporation to obtain a defect settlement to fully fund these defect works.
- Medium residential development in Epping – We project managed and oversaw this large-scale waterproofing and cladding remedial work for this new building, while the builder and developer went into liquidation. The total projected cost of the works are expected to exceed $5m.
Defects represent one of, if not the, greatest risk (incl. financial, convenience, emotional) to Owners. Equally, the risk can be very effectively reduced or eliminated via the effective management of the process and parties by an experienced specialist, for this reason Strata Sense has a dedicated Defect Specialist to support our communities through the process.