If you are a member of an owner’s corporation there is a good chance you are paying too much for repairs and maintenance.
Being a member of an owner’s corporation I have had to perform the role of project manager to avoid this scenario. Building repair and maintenance quotes that have been provided by the preferred tradespeople of my owner’s corporation are consistently, substantially higher than the market rate. In some situations more than double the price.
If tradespeople know they are not under any competitive pressure when quoting, invariably they will quote higher than market rates. These types of situations arise regularly where the property is being managed by a property manager i.e. an owners corporation manager or a real estate property manager.
When I questioned the owner’s corporation manager about the consistent high quotes of their preferred tradespeople their response was that they provide an “administration service”. In other words they take no responsibility for the fairness of their quotes or the quality of the workmanship.
Where there is an owner’s corporation it is easy to camouflage an exorbitant repair bill. For example where a repair should cost $10,000 the owner’s corporation organises the works for $20,000. Let’s say there are 40 units in the block. Collectively the owners are paying $10,000 more than they should. However each owner only pays $250 more than they should. The fact that each owner is paying a small amount more doesn’t make this outcome acceptable. The extra $10,000 the owners collectively paid could have been put to better use elsewhere in the building.
As well as obtaining a competitive price it is also important that owners check that finished works comply with building regulations. I experienced a situation recently where roof repairs were carried out for a cost of $5,000. The roof company was quite happy to allow me to climb their ladder to assess the defective roof. However when it came time to check the finished works they did not allow me the same access claiming occupational health and safety reasons.
Several years later there were further leaking issues, so I was able to gain access to the roof. The works carried out by the roofing company were totally non-compliant. In fact only about $1000 of works was completed not the $5,000 that was paid for.
A difficult to access repair job such as a high rise roof in combination with tradespeople that are nominated by owner’s corporation managers can be a recipe for a less than ideal outcome for property owners.
Most people are time poor and so rely on owner’s corporation managers to do the right thing. When it comes to expensive repair and improvement works owners should take the initiative and obtain quotes independent of the owner’s corporation manager.
Also, substantial repair jobs should be inspected on completion by an independent expert to ensure the work complies with building regulations and have been carried out in a satisfactory manner.
