Find the actual source
Moisture mapping and thermal imaging to trace water back to origin, which is frequently several levels from where it appeared.
Sector · Strata & owners corporation
Strata water damage and leak rectification
Most strata water claims are not technically difficult. They stall because nobody established early on where the water came from, and whether that point sits in common property or inside a lot.
Call (03) 7035 0623
Common property vs lot, documented
What strata and building managers need
Separate the scopes
Common property damage and lot damage documented independently so both can be lodged without waiting on each other.
Report on rectification
A clear statement of what caused it and what trade needs to fix it, so the committee has something to decide on.
Why strata claims stall
The delays in strata water claims are almost never about drying capacity. They are about unresolved questions that should have been answered on day one.
- Source never properly established — Without a documented origin, responsibility cannot be allocated, and the claim sits while parties argue from assumption rather than evidence.
- Combined scopes — One report covering common property and several lots forces every party to wait for the slowest, and gives adjusters a bundle they have to unpick.
- Access across many lots — Coordinating entry to fifteen individually occupied lots ad hoc turns a three-day job into a two-week one.
- Cause never addressed — Restoring the damage without rectifying the defect produces a repeat claim, at which point the insurer starts asking about maintenance.
How we handle strata work
Establish origin before anything else
Water in a multi-storey building travels along slab edges, down service penetrations and through cavities. It routinely appears several levels below and some distance across from the actual defect, which means the obvious answer is frequently the wrong one.
We work upward from the lowest affected point with moisture meters and thermal imaging, and where necessary carry out controlled invasive inspection to confirm it. Drying before the source is isolated wastes equipment time, because the water keeps arriving. Establishing origin properly is the single most useful thing that happens on day one.
Two scopes, not one
Common property damage and lot owner damage are different claims with different responsible parties and often different insurers. Producing a single combined report means every party has to wait for the whole thing and the adjuster has to separate it themselves.
We split it at source. The common property scope covers what the owners corporation is responsible for; each affected lot gets its own readings, photographs and scope. Everything ties back to a single cause-of-loss narrative so there is no inconsistency between documents, but each can be lodged independently.
Restoration and rectification are different jobs
An owners corporation that only restores has the same defect and a repeat claim within a year or two. Insurers notice that pattern, and it eventually shows up as an excess increase, a coverage exclusion or awkward questions about maintenance history.
So our reports carry a separate rectification section: what we found about the cause, and what trade needs to address it — a waterproofing contractor for a failed balcony membrane, a plumber for a riser, a façade specialist for a sealant failure. We are not doing that work, but the committee needs a clear statement of it to make a decision and to budget.
Related
Water affecting a strata building?
Call now. If the source is unknown, that is normal — tracing it is part of what we do.
(03) 7035 0623Strata water damage FAQs
We have damp in several lots and no idea where it is from. Can you find it?
Yes, and it is a large part of what we do in strata buildings. We moisture map the affected lots, use thermal imaging to trace the wet path and, where needed, carry out controlled invasive inspection. Water in a high-rise travels along slab edges and service penetrations, so it commonly appears several levels from the defect. A systematic trace beats an assumption every time.
Is this common property or the lot owner’s responsibility?
That depends on where the water originated and on the by-laws and strata plan, and it is not ours to determine. What we do is establish and document the origin clearly, including photographing the failed component before disturbance where it is safe to do so. That evidence is normally what the decision gets made on.
How do you manage access to a lot of occupied lots?
Through the building or strata manager, on a planned schedule with proper notice, in as few coordinated passes as possible. Chasing individual occupants ad hoc is what turns a three-day job into a two-week one. An hour spent planning the sequence with the building manager saves days.
Will you tell us how to stop it recurring?
Yes, as a separate rectification section in the report. It sets out what we found about the cause and what trade needs to address it. We are not doing that work, but a committee cannot make a decision or set a budget without a clear statement of it, and restoring without rectifying just books the same claim again next year.