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A quick response to JimmyT about the aforementioned elevator algorithm. In essence, yes that’s basically correct. The difficulty is that there are an amazing array (in the hundreds) of lift control systems out there and they don’t all work the same way. 

The recommendation of getting a Lift Engineer is good. You could get a Lift Consultant – who will arguably be independent, although they have all trained somewhere, so could still have some allegiance to the ‘old’ company. You could also look to try and get another Lift Company in but that’s always tricky if the incumbent company has a long term contract – this is typically the case.

Not all lifts are made to the same standards and not all lift control systems have the same features and capabilities. If this lift is old and the control system is relay or contactor based (rather than microprocessor or PLC) then there is a limit to how much can be done. 

Happy to elaborate. The disclaimer here is that I do work in the industry. 

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Thanks for your answers. The El Khoury case sound reasonably relevant and that definitely concerns me:

If the OC pays for the structures to be removed and reinstated and the structures once reinstated aren’t as effective as they were previously (i.e. leak, move/squeak/groan in the wind etc), who needs to take responsibility? How far does that responsibility go? What happens if the structure is still under a warranty and this voids the warranty….I could go on. 

Seems a very tricky situation. 

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Hi all, new here but very interested in everyone’s comments and thoughts on this topic.

I live in a Strata Plan with major defects (structural, fire, acoustic and general) and we are have a devil of a time getting things moving. We have started proceedings within the specified time, so that’s a good starting point.

The relevance of our problems to the issues in this topic are that we too have a number of things around our development that could easily cause injury. The developer, builder and PCA have been MOST helpful (can you feel the sarcasm in that statement, I hope so)! To repeat what a number of people have said over the years, it amazes me that the responsibility lies in the hands of the owners rather than the people who did shoddy work and the people who could not be bothered to do a proper job certifying that the work met the Building Code – which is most certainly does not.

We don’t have the money to fight a court case AND to fix the dangerous things around the development. So what do we do?

Just for some context, we’re in Sydney, our development is under the last resort insurance scheme, we have outlayed somewhere in the vicinity of $150k on lawyers, engineers reports and experts so far and have seen very little movement. We’re raising more special levies to go to court but I can see a long and hard road ahead. Rough estimates at this stage are that the defects will cost $4-5million.

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