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If it’s anything like up in NSW, an audit of the building to current National Construction Code (NCC) is probably the first step to take…..although that now makes you fully aware of any and all liabilities. A previous 2019 revision incorporated changes, that depending on the construction, height and so forth of the building, could get extremely expensive and disruptive, if it applies.
Typically up here, a BCA consultant will project manage the defect side, but they generally have little idea on cost for budgetting purposes. An estimator or quantity surveyor is possibly worthwhile, but we found several years ago, a lot were uninterested in what was for them, a piddly project. Unless questions arise under your constitution, lawyers are probably at the end the process – winding up the company, etc.
I’d suggest having a sizeable war chest before embarking on anything if the building is a good age, several of the shareholders here have had to depart and I know of one building a few blocks away, where the owner topped himself.
We had the building done about a year ago, unanimous consent and that $275/per rings a bell.
Previously a flakey FTTC service here, checking the telephony pit in the street when the covers were lifted, it was not entirely surprising, rats nest twist wiring and waterproofing covers left unattached. One of the techs did say in future fibre would be installed everywhere – and at no cost, but when or if that may actually occur, who knows.
Installation by contractors (2 days in a 5 storey small block here), approval by nbnco and switch on, took a week or two from memory. You save paying the fibre connection fee with the ISPs, as would happen with a house, some of them were extremely slow on offering fibre plans (database? not updated for months) and simpler to just change provider.
Unless it’s a big complex, the 3 months may refer to the time it takes for the preliminary plan to be produced, which lays out proposed various exterior fibre connection terminals and cable/conduit runs and the internal NTD in your flat, all of which you have a say on location, must be near a power point though. It was unnecessary in the end (safe work practices at height on a ladder) we insisted all cabling went up the cavity or in the subfloors from the building pit – construction of the building will dictate what’s possible there however.
Is this “fire report” something prepared by a fire engineer (or registered certifier, fire safety, in the new speak) or some other specialist? Typically a design brief would be offered first by the C10 (fire engineer) and then a FER (fire engineering report) with your selected solutions. If the latter has already been supplied, you would seem to be well advanced in the process.
Do you instead mean something like a BCA survey was conducted to identify shortcomings in the building? Where they were found, usually performance solutions are offered as alternatives to sprinklers and so forth, if not, I’d raise this with the C10 when the time comes.
As mentioned above, Councils generally recognize the limitations of older buildings and after speaking to various experts, only a tiny percentage get hit with fire orders requiring immediate action. In this LGA, 5 year implementation is typical, one of the council officers I spoke with recently on our voluntary upgrade, mentioned some of the orders he has stretch over 10 years…..you need your BCA/project manager to make exception to the yearly schedule of works required by Council in that case.
The mention of replacement of flooring does bring the possibility of future dramas if not done to satisfy all parties – lawyer’s advice to us, always get an acoustic report! Without knowing the age or construction of your place, the flooring does raise some suspicion, you may find that plumbing and electrical work on the property wouldn’t simply just involve those two trades, but may require proof that the passive fire protection wasn’t compromised by penetrations, etc
On waterproofing of bathrooms raised earlier, with class 2 buildings, it’s a fairly low dollar threshold from memory before you run into regulated designs – and all that entails.
If you wanted to be proactive on safety as well as wear – and this is after conducting audits of the buildings here. BCA D2.13(a)(v) is worth a look – and it applies to both carpet and tiles. If a new carpet is going down, we were referred to Specification 7 of the NCC….again, if you want to engage in good practice.
Sydney Water requires each lot in a strata plan to be separately metered.
I think that may have been true quite some years ago. Where it’s impractical (or the shareholders disagree), it doesn’t appear to be the case anymore if you read their plumbing guide. There is one block nearby that went through the conversion in the last couple of years retaining single metering which bears that out. Of course the sprinklers, hydrants, stop valve installations there would have made the cost of a few individual meters petty cash.
SteveBoo said:
The wiring the OC has declined to repair is in a metal conduit embedded in a concrete ceiling (which is also the floor of the unit above, I think).
You might be able to sell them on this by mentioning insurers reduce premiums on rewired buildings!
If it’s an art deco building, with split metal conduit in the ceiling slab – and usually running down the walls too – you could well be looking at vulcanised Indian rubber, single conductor wiring. Even if working fine now, it’s well past it’s use by date.
We still have some remnant in the ceilings here that went out when moisture penetrated recently. It’s better to be proactive on replacing it before it fails I will say.