Roof Leaks - HELP

Hi Abra,

The issue is that the strata manager is not keen at all to get into any sort of professionals to come in and examining the problem. All he would say is that, it is BIG EXPENSIVE PROBLEM which would require prolonged planning. He was the one that straight jumped into saying, in fixing a failed waterproofing membrane is not a simple issue and that the replacement of the membrane coating is required for the entire rooftop

As for your other question:
(1) Yes, there are cracks in the tiles where we would see water underneath the tiles
(2) The drain pipes are half blocked by the white stuff that were piling over it, most significantly in the corners of the roof.
(3) Yes, you are absolutely right that the white stuff are where water has been pooling and not draining away properly. -- Any implication on this?
Quotes should be free and will give you an idea of price range and what the actual problem will be. Do not mention the situation with the strata to the tradies, just tell them you are after quotes to fix the problem. Get a few quotes as some will give you a ridiculous price and others will actually know how to fix it. Doing this will give you a better idea of what is going on. While it is the strata’s job he doesn’t sound too keen. For all you know he has a builder mate to come in and charge top price.
Anything inside your home should be covered by insurance.

As for the questions
(1) The grout has washed out, pretty easy to fix
(2) Is probably the grout that has come out and then leeching the white stuff while it’s in the ponding water/ and getting stuck in the drain.
(3) Is more or less just staining (in my opinion)

Strata managers rely on tradies telling them what is wrong with the building. Some tradies know what they are talking about and others don't have a clue. The usual process on most jobs I go to (as a roofer) is sending in:
Handyman
Handyman
Handyman
Carpenter
Plumber
Plumber
Me
And it often takes weeks, months or years before they get around to the right trade. I am often asked about windows, garage doors, rendering etc. Strata managers just think all trades are experts at all things construction.
 
Hi Guys,

Thanks for your all wonderful and generous inputs. Thought to give you a quick update on where things have gone to.

Actually, to be honest, things have gone nowhere for the last 4weeks. Initially, there seemed to be a change of attitude coming from the strata manager, citing that he would arrange for an engineering report to be tabled for consideration at AGM this Saturday. However, it was not until last Thursday that the manager was able to put together an engineering quotation report (only 1 page coming from the supplier, with nothing else) for EC (executive committee) to consider for approval. With only 2 days notice, the manager was calling for an EC meeting to take place last Saturday. As it turned out, none of the EC members was able to attend except for one. The rest, as I found out later from talking to them, felt inadequate information was given by the manager regarding the problem and little notice was given for the meeting. With the email request, there was only one attachment of the quotation, with one sentence touching on the water penetration issue. No description or photos outlining the extent of problem were forwarded in the email to EC members even though it was already provided to the manager initially.

Unfortunately I was not able to attend the EC meeting so my partner went instead. However, at the time, he was still under the impression with the strata manager that engineering report is still to go ahead even though EC members did not attend the meeting to discuss the problem. He promised that there will a report of some sort to be tabled on the AGM this Saturday.

However, as I just called to see if the report is now completed, the manager simply said it is not ready because there was no approval from EC and that failed EC meeting last Saturday means that we simply just have to wait for a general consent from this AGM for it. When I asked if he could source two other more quotations regarding the engineering report, as currently it costs around $3.2k, he simply said am I happy to wait further as sourcing two other quotations will take around another 2-3 weeks. Even when I questioned him why there was no timely update on the progress of the report, he simply said he is too busy and I should not expect him to report to me on every single minor steps. Speechless...:(

Guys, could you please kindly share some light into the following questions I have:

(1) is $3.2k reasonable cost for an engineering report?

(2) does quotation for an engineering report take long to produce?

(3) what's the legal requirement on the no. of notice days required to convene a EC meeting? Is the strata manager in charge of setting up a fixed time and date?

(4) In strata manager's own words that "it is record time that he has tabled this quotation submission and attended to the issue", I just wanted to know what is the reasonable expectation on the turn out of initial assessment, sourcing suppliers and repair work to begin?

(5) Is it allowed to ask at the AGM for EC members to give contact details so concerned owners can liaise directly with the board regarding unresolved issues? What if at a scheduled EC meeting, EC members did not attend and do not seem to be performing their functions?

(6) Along with the notice of AGM received, there was also this proposal to increase annual admin levy, however, on the proposal set out, it seemed to be just some mix bag of random numbers, as the $ of expenditure budgeted does not correlate with the total expenditure reported for the last financial. There is no justification given for the increase either. -- question here is what's the standard process of assessing the budget proposed?

Sorry for all this long string of questions again >.<"...................
 
Ya I'm interested in how it goes as well. Mine went into a stalemate. We're trying to see if it's worth taking legal action against the builder or the PM, we might end up paying for it in the end :(

Sydney is getting drenched at the moment...poor tenants :(
 
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