Seymour Consultants has worked with Gold Coast bodies corporate since 2001. Our office is at Arundel, so this is the market we know best and the one our inspectors reach fastest. Committees and strata managers engage us to inspect common property and produce the statutory reports a scheme is obliged to hold.
Most of what we do is not optional. Sinking fund forecasts, work health and safety audits, pool safety certification and fire safety compliance are all obligations under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 and the regulation modules that sit under it. They also recur. A forecast that was accurate five years ago usually is not accurate now.
Reports we prepare for Gold Coast schemes
- Work health and safety audits, covering common property hazards, anchor points, plant and contractor management
- Sinking fund forecasts across a fifteen year horizon, with levy recommendations
- Fire safety audits, plus fire and evacuation plans and evacuation training
- Pool barrier inspection and certification
- Asbestos audits and registers for pre-1990 buildings
- Insurance replacement valuations
- Common property condition reports
- Caretaking remuneration reviews under section 130
- Lot entitlement reports and roof reports
Why Gold Coast forecasts get revisited more often
A great deal of the local unit stock is high density and close to the water. Salt air, pools, lifts, painted render and extensive common area landscaping all carry maintenance cycles, and building format plans put the whole of that fabric inside the body corporate’s responsibility rather than the individual owner’s.
The practical effect is that two schemes of the same age and lot count can need very different levies. Painting cycles differ. Roof types differ. A tower with three lifts is not comparable to a walk up. This is why we inspect rather than desktop the forecast, and why we ask what work has already been done before we model what is coming.
Pool safety
Shared pools in Queensland need a pool safety certificate, and for a body corporate that certificate has a shorter life than the one issued for a private residential pool. Barriers, gates, latching, climbable objects and the CPR sign are all part of the inspection. Where something fails, we set out what needs to change rather than simply recording a fail.
If you want the detail before you call, we have written it up: how pool safety certificates work in Queensland.
If you are a strata manager
Much of our work arrives through managers rather than direct from committees. We take work orders, attend site, and return a branded report by email. Our quantity surveyors are members of the Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors.
If you manage a portfolio and want several schemes assessed on one visit, tell us when you raise the order and we will arrange the run accordingly.
What a site visit involves
For a sinking fund forecast, the surveyor walks the common property and records the condition and remaining life of each significant element. Roof, external paint, lifts, pumps, pool plant, fencing, driveways, balustrades, waterproofing to podium areas, common area air conditioning, fire services. Anything the body corporate will eventually have to replace goes on the schedule with a year and a cost.
Access is the main thing that slows a visit down. Roof access, plant rooms, switchboards and any locked service cupboards need to be available on the day. If the caretaker or building manager can meet our inspector, the job runs faster and the report is better, because they usually know what has been repaired and when.
A work health and safety audit runs differently. It is a hazard inspection rather than a costing exercise, so the surveyor is looking for trip hazards, unguarded plant, missing anchor points, electrical risks, confined spaces and how contractors are being managed. The output is a register with risk ratings and recommended controls.
Common questions from Gold Coast committees
How often does a sinking fund forecast need updating?
The forecast has to cover at least the next nine years, and it needs to be adjusted each year when the body corporate sets its budget. In practice most schemes have the whole thing reworked properly every four or five years, and sooner if something significant has been done or deferred.
Our levies went up after the last forecast. Was that the forecast’s fault?
Usually it is the opposite. A forecast that recommends an increase is generally catching up on years where the fund was set too low for the work coming. The alternative is a special levy later, which lands on whoever owns the lot at the time rather than being spread.
Do we need a WHS audit if we have no employees?
Yes. The duty attaches to the body corporate as a person conducting a business or undertaking, and engaging contractors is enough to bring it into play. Committees are often told otherwise.
Can one visit cover several reports?
Often, yes. A sinking fund forecast and a WHS audit are frequently done on the same attendance, and a pool inspection can usually be added. It is worth asking at quote stage because it reduces the total cost.
Getting a quote
Call 07 5573 4011 or send us the scheme details. Useful things to have to hand: the address, the number of lots, whether it is a building format or standard format plan, and roughly when the building went up. That is usually enough for a price.
