BUILDING LEAKS – THE NEED FOR SPEED TO SAVE COSTS AND PREVENT STRUCTURAL DAMAGE

Too many times we are called as the last resort to fix building leaks. The building has had numerous contractors from roof plumbers to window washers come to a building to patch a hole or put silicone throughout the building, and still the building continues to leak. It seems like the arcade game of ‘Whack ‘Em All’ – plug one hole here and another springs up over there.

Yesterday, I was at a building that had spent $30,000 over the past year trying to find recurring leaks in several locations on one side of the building. The building is 7 storeys high, and leaks were presenting on the ground floor and level 3 apartments. The thoughts were that the damage occurred via 2 separate leaks. This may be the case, but as this was the first inspection and we could not gain access to all areas, we could not confirm this is the case at this early stage. But it did intrigue me that no contractor had even looked at the roof – which upon inspection had major defects.

The parapet capping on the roof was non-compliant and was causing water to enter the building. It was running behind the cladding and pooling on the ground floor causing damage to the ground floor ceiling and plaster walls. The capping had received considerable damage which appeared to be caused by window washers walking on it before abseiling the side of the building.

The longer the building is left with leaks, the more damage occurs within the building causing structural issues that cost way more than it should. An example of this is a building which has spent $2.5 million (with more to come), fixing issues which could have been resolved for $200,000 ten years ago. The owners’ inaction, or the short-term plug a hole methodology, ended up costing the owners much more than it needed to, because the resultant damage caused by the leaks was so severe.

In the case of the building inspected yesterday, we are in the process of conducting a full defects review on the property, and at that stage we will understand the full extent of building leaks, but it got me thinking, how would the owners’ life have been improved if they had a holistic review of the building leaks 18 months ago? How will the Strata Manager’s life and workload be improved by removing the complaints of continued leaks and getting another contractor to attend site and arrange for a permanent fix?

For a start, owners would have been at least $30,000 better off. They would not be putting up with continued leaks in their apartments. Owners wouldn’t have to continually patch and paint the plaster in their units. The Strata Manager would have more time to deal with important issues not just urgent issues and the frustration of owners.

The solution that provides a permanent fix is simple; complete a thorough report first to properly identify the leaks and then work out a scope of works to fix the leaks, tender those works out and manage the remedial works. This would have saved a lot of time, money and heartache for all concerned.

Article contributed by Sam Hogg, Director, PASG Projects