In a strata building, the plumbing question and the money question are different questions. Whose pipe it is decides who pays, and getting that answer right and documented is often more useful to a strata manager than the repair itself.
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Could not send just now. Call Luke 0423 213 079 or Zach 0402 273 744, or email admin@bmadvanced.com.au
Strata plumbing covers work in multi-unit buildings, where responsibility is split between the owners corporation for common property and individual owners for their own lots. In New South Wales, the general position is that pipes serving more than one lot, or located in common property, are usually the owners corporation's responsibility, while pipework serving only one lot within that lot is usually the owner's. The boundary is set by the strata plan and the relevant legislation, so it needs to be determined for each building rather than assumed. This matters because it determines who pays for the repair, which is why written reports and clear documentation are as important as the plumbing work in strata jobs.
Most of our strata work falls into a handful of recurring categories.
If you are an owner rather than the strata manager, it is still worth calling. We will tell you what we think is likely to be lot versus common property so that you know who you should be talking to before you commit to paying for anything.
Strata manager, building manager, committee member or an individual owner. It matters, because we need to know who is authorising the work and who the invoice goes to before we start rather than afterwards.
We find out what is actually failing and where the failure sits in the building. In an older block that often means tracing a leak through more than one lot.
We will tell you what we found and where the pipework sits, which is the factual basis for that decision. The legal determination rests on the strata plan and the legislation, and we will not pretend otherwise, but a clear factual report is what allows it to be resolved.
Where water is actively causing damage, stopping it comes before the paperwork. We isolate and contain, then work out the rest.
What failed, where, why, what it will take to fix, photos and camera footage where relevant. Written up so it can go to a committee or an insurer without needing translation.
Water shutdowns in a residential building need notice. We will work out a time and a scope that minimises how long residents are without water, and give you what you need to notify them.
Strata work is priced like other work, with a couple of differences that matter to a manager.
For buildings with recurring problems we would rather put a proposal in front of a committee for fixing the cause than keep invoicing for the symptom. It is a better outcome for the owners and it is less work for the manager.
In a house, a leak is a plumbing problem. In a strata building, it is a plumbing problem, a responsibility question, an insurance question and sometimes a dispute between neighbours. The plumber who understands that is more useful than the one who just fixes the pipe.
Before anyone can decide who pays, someone has to establish what failed and where it sits in the building. Broadly, in New South Wales, pipes serving more than one lot or located in common property tend to be the owners corporation's responsibility, while pipework serving a single lot within that lot tends to be the owner's. The exact line comes from the strata plan and the legislation, and there are cases that are genuinely arguable.
We are not going to pretend to settle those questions. What we can do is provide the facts clearly: what the failure is, exactly where it is located, what it serves, why it failed, and what the repair options are. With that in hand, a strata manager can make the call properly. Without it, everybody argues from assumptions.
A lot of our strata work ends in a written report with photographs and, where drainage is involved, CCTV footage. Committees need it to authorise spending. Insurers need it to assess a claim. Owners need it when responsibility is contested. Capital works planning needs it to justify replacing a stack rather than continuing to clear it. It takes us extra time and it saves everybody else a great deal.
Buildings that block repeatedly in the same place are not unlucky. Older blocks across the North Shore, particularly around the rail corridor at Hornsby, Waitara, Gordon, Lindfield and St Ives, and the unit stock through Manly, Dee Why, Freshwater and Collaroy, often have original cast iron stacks and earthenware drainage. Both accumulate internal build-up and both are decades old.
At that point the honest analysis is not plumbing, it is arithmetic. Put a camera down the line, establish the condition, and compare the cost of scheduled jetting over the next ten years against relining or replacing it once. Frequently the answer is obvious as soon as somebody actually does the comparison, and nobody has because each individual callout felt small.
Scheduled jetting of common drainage lines is unglamorous and it prevents most of the emergency overflows a building would otherwise have. It also turns an unpredictable series of after-hours invoices into a planned annual cost, which any manager preparing a budget will appreciate.
For strata enquiries, call Luke on 0423 213 079 or Zach on 0402 273 744, or send the form with the building address and what is happening. Every enquiry answered within 12 hours.
Send the building address, what is happening and whether you need a written report. Emergencies go to the phone, day or night.
Three quick steps. Every enquiry answered within 12 hours. If it's urgent, use the numbers.
Could not send just now. Call Luke 0423 213 079 or Zach 0402 273 744, or email admin@bmadvanced.com.au
