Good Governance

GOOD GOVERNANCE Building consultant vs engineer or private certifi er

Getting the right fi t for your building defect issues

With all the rain we experienced earlier in the year most buildings in the eastern seaboard of Australia have been put through their paces in terms of waterproofi ng, cracks and structural integrity. Did your building pass the recent severe weather test? Or did you discover chinks in the armour allowing water ingress into habitable areas? Most building defect scenarios that adversely aff ect your building can be resolved by consulting with your chosen building consultant or project manager. Not to be confused with a building works contractor (who is selling you remedial works and repairs), engaging with a building consultant that specialises in inspections and reports (opposed to quotes for repair works) will ensure you get a holistic inspection with a “best for building” focus, and a cost-eff ective and relevant remedial scope that you clearly understand, and is within your budget. Then the building consultant will obtain “apples for apples” quotes for you and coordinate the works to ensure they are done correctly. For the context of this article, a building consultant is a person that holds building industry qualifi cations to match the same ‘Class’ of building you have. For example, if you have a high-rise apartment building that is Class 2 under the Building Code of Australia, then your building consultant will hold an Open Builder’s License. If you have a townhouse villa complex that is Class 1, then your building consultant will hold a Low-Rise Builder’s License or Residential Building Inspectors License. The key to selecting your building consultant is confi rming that he and/or his business do not provide services that include actually doing the building/repair works. That is because you want a building consultant that provides appropriate and cost-eff ective advice, opposed to scaring you about excessive defects and upselling their expensive quote for repairs. For example, a building consultant could be a building inspector or a project manager.

Lynda Kypriadakis,

Diverse FMX

General practitioner versus specialist doctor

Consider your building consultant as the local GP. They are the individual that knows the history of your complex and will look at all your building ailments as they arise, big or small. When necessary, your building consultant will know when to refer you to a specialist (for instance a structural engineer) and when to involve the private certifi er for assessable building work. Triggers for escalating a defect consulting matt er from a building consultant to a specialist include: • Assessable building work under the Building Act requires a Private Certifi er to be involved.

• Structural defects that exceed allowable tolerances require a structural engineer to be involved. • New structural design works also require the relevant engineer to be involved.

• Changes to the conditions imposed in the Development Approval require a Town Planning Consultant to be involved.

• Changes to the approved fi re protection system may require the local fi re brigade to be involved.

Case study 1: Leaking membrane roof

The body corporate experienced water leaks from their membrane roof into the upper-level apartment and went straight to three diff erent waterproofi ng contractors for quotes. All three quotes came back ranging in price over 100 percent and with diff ering scopes of works. The committ ee chose the cheapest quote and at the very next rain event the leak returned, even worse than before.

There was no warranty certifi cate provided and the waterproofi ng contractor did not reply to any calls, nor did he return to fi x, so the body corporate had to start all over again.