Do you sometimes feel like you are talking to a brick wall when discussing with your committee, the things they need to do to maintain their building? Have they had report after report prepared but little or no action has been undertaken in repairing the building? In my experience, what really helps is a third party to come and talk to the committee about next steps. You wouldn’t believe how many times I have heard “I’ve been telling them exactly what you said and finally they have listened!”. Finally the committee decides to take action and do the work required to maintain their building.

Let’s start at the very beginning….

Let’s say a project needs to be scoped. The building consists of 40 units and is four storeys high plus 2 basement levels. This project has multiple defects throughout the building with leaks in apartments, common property and basement car parks. Someone needs to get to all areas and the inspecting project manager gives residents a number of options of bulk time periods to access the apartments. Some of these times are during business hours and some are after work to cater for people who can’t be there during the day. At the bottom of the spreadsheet for residents to fill in, there is a message to identify a time and date that suits the occupant. Does this sound like something people would respond to? It may be annoying and impact on the resident’s day, but they are finally getting someone to look at the leaks in their bedroom and they are pretty sure there is mould there too!

A communications plan is set up. The plan is for fortnightly reports to be sent to the body corporate via the strata manager and the Committee, so they are fully informed of the progress every step of the way. The report gives current status, what has been complete the last two weeks, what is being completed in the next two weeks, what are the risks to the project and what is being done to mitigate those risks.

So, the project is underway, the scope of works has been completed and tender documentation is prepared. The project manager reviews the group of contractors and selects a group of five or six that they think are the “Goldilocks” contractors. They are not too big, not too small and they are the right contractor for the project e.g. some contractors may be good at defects remediation and some good at cladding project but may not be good at both. The project manager will seek expressions of interest from those contractors to see if they would like to be on the tender list of four contractors. The project manager will interview those Contractors to compress the list for tender. Some things they would want to ascertain is each contractor’s current workload and their capacity to undertake more projects. Who of their team would be working on the project if they won the project? How keen are they? Are they committing to putting their best foot forward to win the project? It is only then that the tender list of four keen contractors can be put to the Committee for approval with a list of reasons why those contractors are on the list.

Then we move to the tender phase. The communication now ramps up with the contractors. The project manager works with each of the contractors every second day answering various questions and guiding the contractors on the responses we expect to see. By doing this we are doing everything in our power to get as comprehensive tender responses as possible with total engagement from tenderers. Following the tender clarification and assessment period where we achieve apples with apples submissions from contractors and ensure the entire scope is included, we issue a Tender Recommendation Report to the Committee where we outline who we recommend should be appointed as head contractor for the project. We meet with the Committee as soon as possible after the Report is issued to finalise scope to be included and the contractor to be appointed.

The project manager then prepares a document to be issued to each lot owner that details the recommendation and the amount payable to each lot owner. Once this is produced, they arrange an Owners’ Information Session. The purpose of this session is to outline why the works need to occur and how they have come to this recommendation. No owner wants to pay any money, we get that, but they must pay money maintaining their asset in order to avoid the situation become worse and costing potentially hundreds of thousands more in remediation costs. We tell owners this and compress those emotions of denial, anger and finally acceptance withing a 2 hour information session. As a strata manager, this method of communication assists to move projects ahead in the subsequent special general meeting.

Once a project is approved by the body corporate, the contract with the builder can be signed by both parties. The project manager can then organise a resident information session to communicate exactly what will occur throughout the construction works and how they will be affected. A two week lookahead program is posted on all noticeboards and distributed to all residents.

Once under construction, regular site meetings take place with the contractor to ensure the works are being conducted:

• With a high degree of quality,
• In accordance with the program,
• With a high level on OH&S, and
• With a high level of communication

Throughout the construction phase, the project manager monitors and addresses issued that arise. They will also be responsible for administering all aspects of the contract including certifying contractor claims, extension of time requests and variations, among others.

Building remediation projects are stressful for Owners and Committees. Owners can feel overwhelmed by the situation. This feeling is only mitigated once they feel that the person looking after the project is competent and they will get the project completed with minimal disruptions. A large part of making owners feel at ease is by having an effective communication plan. Projects are never successful if there is poor communication between the body corporate and the project manager. On the flip side, if there is great communication and rapport, the project is a very likely to be delivered successfully.

Article contributed by Sam Hogg, PASG Projects

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