Disaster Recovery for Strata Managers

When disaster strikes a strata building, the first question is always the same: whose responsibility is this? The answer determines who lodges the insurance claim, who pays for restoration, and who engages the restoration contractor. Getting this wrong can mean delays, disputes, and unrecovered costs for the owners corporation.

What counts as common property

Common property is everything that is not part of an individual lot as defined by the strata plan. In practice, this typically includes the building structure itself — foundations, load-bearing walls, roof membranes, external walls, and facades. It also includes shared building services: fire systems, common plumbing risers, electrical mains, lift shafts, and HVAC plant. Corridors, stairwells, foyers, car parks, gardens, pools, gymnasiums, and any other common amenity are all common property.

When a common plumbing riser bursts and floods three floors, that is common property damage. When the roof membrane fails during a storm and water penetrates into the top-floor units, the membrane failure is a common property issue. When fire damages the building's electrical switchboard and corridor, the body corporate is responsible for those repairs.

What is the lot owner's responsibility

Individual lot owners are typically responsible for internal fixtures and fittings within their lot boundary — paint, carpet, floating floors, cabinetry, appliances, and personal contents. If a lot owner's washing machine overflows and damages only their own unit, that is generally their responsibility (and their contents insurer's concern).

The grey areas

Strata responsibility disputes most commonly arise where common property meets lot boundaries. Waterproof membranes in bathrooms, windows and window frames, balcony tiles, pipes within walls that serve a single lot — these are all grey areas that vary by state legislation and individual strata plans. In NSW, the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 provides specific guidance. In Queensland, the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 defines lot and common property differently again.

As a strata manager, you need a restoration partner who understands these distinctions and documents damage accordingly. We provide separate documentation for common property damage and lot-specific damage, so the body corporate and individual lot owners each have what they need for their respective insurance claims.

When common property is damaged, you often cannot wait for the next committee meeting to authorise repairs. Water is spreading, mould growth begins within 24 to 48 hours, and every hour of delay increases the final restoration cost. Australian strata legislation recognises this reality and gives strata managers the authority to act.

The legal framework

Under strata legislation in every state and territory, strata managers and body corporate committees have the power to authorise urgent or emergency repairs to common property without a general meeting resolution. The specifics vary:

• NSW — Under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, the strata committee can authorise expenditure to carry out urgent repairs or maintenance. A managing agent can spend up to their delegated authority, and this can be increased for emergencies.
• Queensland — The Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 allows the committee to approve spending for urgent maintenance necessary to protect common property or ensure safety.
• Victoria — Under the Owners Corporations Act 2006, the owners corporation can authorise emergency expenditure for repairs that are urgent and necessary.
• Other states — WA, SA, TAS, NT, and ACT all have equivalent provisions allowing emergency repairs without prior general meeting approval.

What constitutes "urgent"

Emergency spending authority applies when repairs are necessary to prevent imminent danger to occupants, prevent further damage to common property, or maintain essential services. A burst pipe flooding multiple units, a fire-damaged stairwell blocking egress, storm damage exposing the building interior to the elements — all clearly qualify.

The $2,750 make-safe in context

Our emergency make-safe fee is $2,750 ($550 platform fee plus $2,200 held for the attending contractor). For most strata schemes, this is well within the emergency spending authority available to the strata manager or committee chair. The make-safe covers immediate response: stopping the damage source, water extraction, containment, and initial drying equipment deployment.

Documenting the decision

Even when you have authority to act, documentation protects everyone. Record the nature of the emergency, when you became aware, why immediate action was necessary, the spending amount authorised, and the contractor engaged. Table this at the next committee meeting for ratification. We provide a complete emergency response report — including timestamps, photos, and scope of initial works — that you can attach directly to the committee meeting minutes.

Body corporate insurance is fundamentally different from residential home insurance, and understanding how it works is critical to managing the restoration process efficiently. As a strata manager, you are often the person responsible for lodging the claim, coordinating with loss adjusters, and managing owner expectations around timelines and costs.

How body corporate insurance works

Body corporate insurance (sometimes called strata insurance or building insurance) covers the building structure, common property infrastructure, and — depending on the policy — fixtures and fittings within lots as originally installed by the developer. It does not typically cover tenant or owner contents, improvements made by lot owners after the original build, or items that are the lot owner's responsibility under the strata plan.

Policies are usually arranged by the strata manager on behalf of the owners corporation, with the premium funded from the administrative fund (or sinking fund for capital works). Common perils covered include storm, fire, water damage, and malicious damage.

Excess and deductible considerations

Commercial strata policies often carry higher excesses than residential home insurance. It is not uncommon for a body corporate policy to have a $5,000 general excess, with special excesses of $10,000 to $20,000 for specific event types such as flood, storm surge, or water damage from faulty waterproofing. Some policies also have percentage-based excesses for major events. Knowing your excess before an incident helps you manage owner expectations and assess whether small claims are worth lodging.

We bill the body corporate directly

Disaster Recovery bills the body corporate (owners corporation) directly. We do not bill insurers and we do not wait for insurer approval before commencing work. This means restoration begins immediately — within 60 minutes of your call — rather than days or weeks into an insurance approval process. You control the process, not the insurer.

We provide the body corporate with full documentation — damage assessment, scope of works, moisture readings, progress reports, and completion certificates — everything the insurer needs to process the body corporate's reimbursement claim.

Timeline: restoration vs insurance

Restoration and insurance run on different timelines. Emergency make-safe happens within hours. Full restoration may take days to weeks depending on the extent of damage. Insurance claims can take weeks to months to settle, particularly for larger strata claims where loss adjusters are appointed and multiple parties are involved. Because we bill the body corporate directly, restoration is never held up by insurance timelines. The body corporate pays for restoration, then claims reimbursement from the insurer — keeping the two processes entirely separate.

Strata managers live and die by documentation. Every dollar spent, every decision made, every repair authorised — it all needs to be recorded, reported, and defensible. When disaster strikes a building with 20, 50, or 200 lot owners, the documentation burden is enormous. We built our reporting specifically for strata.

Per-lot damage reports

Every affected unit receives its own damage report. Each report includes photographic evidence of the damage within that lot, moisture readings at multiple points (walls, floors, ceilings, subfloor where accessible), the specific scope of works required for that unit, and the restoration methodology to be used. These per-lot reports allow individual owners to lodge their own contents insurance claims with their personal insurer, independent of the body corporate's building insurance claim.

Common area documentation

Common property damage is documented separately from lot-specific damage. This includes all corridors, stairwells, lift lobbies, plant rooms, car parks, and shared amenities. The common area report goes directly to the body corporate for inclusion in the building insurance claim. By keeping common property and lot documentation separate, there is no confusion about which costs belong to the body corporate and which belong to individual owners.

Committee-ready reporting

All documentation is formatted for direct inclusion in committee meeting packs. Summary reports can be distributed to all owners at the next annual general meeting or extraordinary general meeting. Detailed cost breakdowns are available for the committee and treasurer. We understand that strata managers need to justify every expenditure to owners who may not have been present when the disaster occurred — our documentation makes that straightforward.

Full scope of works and completion certificates

Before restoration begins beyond the initial make-safe, we provide a detailed scope of works with methodology, materials, timeframes, and costs. On completion, you receive a formal completion certificate with before-and-after photographic evidence, final moisture readings confirming the building has been returned to pre-loss condition, and a warranty on all work performed. This documentation package satisfies insurer requirements, committee governance obligations, and any future audit or dispute resolution needs.

Insurance claim submission package

We compile all common property documentation into a single submission package ready for the body corporate's insurer. This includes the initial damage assessment, cause of loss analysis where determinable, full scope of works, itemised invoicing, progress documentation, and completion certificates. Many strata managers tell us that the quality of our documentation significantly reduces back-and-forth with loss adjusters and speeds up claim settlement.

A burst riser on the twelfth floor does not just damage one unit. Water follows gravity, and by the time you discover the source, it may have affected every unit below it — plus the corridor, lift lobby, and car park. Restoring a multi-unit strata building is fundamentally different from restoring a single house. It requires coordination across multiple owners, tenants, and access points, all while keeping the rest of the building functional.

Floor-by-floor, unit-by-unit planning

We develop a restoration plan that maps every affected area in the building. Each unit is assessed individually, but the work is planned holistically. Drying equipment is positioned to account for airflow between units and floors. Containment barriers are placed to protect unaffected areas. Demolition and rebuild sequences are staged so that work in one unit does not compromise the restoration in another.

Minimising disruption to unaffected residents

In a 50-unit building where 12 units are affected, 38 households still need to live their lives. We plan equipment placement and work schedules to minimise noise, manage common area access, and keep lifts and stairwells available wherever possible. Drying equipment in corridors is positioned to maintain clear egress paths. If car park spaces need to be temporarily used for equipment staging, we coordinate with the strata manager to notify affected owners.

Communication protocols

We provide a single point of contact — a dedicated project coordinator — who liaises directly with the strata manager. You receive daily progress updates that you can forward to the committee and affected owners. For major incidents, we can provide written updates suitable for distribution to all lot owners via your usual communication channels — noticeboard, email, or owner portal.

After-hours and vacant unit access

Restoration cannot always wait until business hours, and not every unit has a resident available to open the door. We work with strata managers and building managers to coordinate access to vacant units, investment properties managed by real estate agents, and units where the owner is overseas or unavailable. For emergency access where damage is actively spreading, we can advise on the legal provisions that allow entry to lots for urgent common property repairs — though this is always a last resort coordinated through the strata manager.

Sequencing and efficiency

Restoring 12 units is not 12 times the work of restoring one — provided it is managed correctly. Shared drying equipment, bulk materials procurement, and coordinated contractor scheduling across all units reduces both cost and timeline compared to treating each unit as a separate project. Our multi-unit coordination experience means the body corporate gets a more efficient restoration with less disruption than engaging separate contractors for each lot.

Insurance is critical for strata — but it should not dictate the speed of your emergency response. Our billing model is designed to keep restoration and insurance as two separate, parallel processes. The building gets restored immediately. The insurance claim runs in the background.

We bill the body corporate, not the insurer

We bill the body corporate (owners corporation) directly for all restoration work. We do not bill insurers, we do not wait for insurer pre-approval, and we do not negotiate scope with loss adjusters before starting work. This is by design. It means the body corporate controls the restoration — you choose the scope, the timeline, and the contractor. There is no insurer-appointed project manager overriding your decisions or reducing scope to minimise the insurer's payout.

Faster response, no approval delays

When a strata building has a burst pipe at 2am on a Saturday, the insurer's claims line may not even be staffed. Even during business hours, getting insurer approval for emergency works can take days. Our model means restoration begins within 60 minutes of your call — because the only approval needed is yours. The body corporate engages us directly, we respond immediately, and the insurance claim is lodged afterwards with full supporting documentation.

Complete claims documentation

We provide everything the body corporate needs to submit a thorough insurance claim: initial damage assessment and cause analysis, photographic evidence at every stage, moisture readings and mapping, detailed scope of works, itemised invoicing, progress reports, and final completion certificates. This documentation package is specifically designed for insurance submission — it answers the questions loss adjusters ask before they ask them.

Loss adjusters — what to expect

For significant strata claims, the insurer will typically appoint a loss adjuster to inspect the damage, review the scope of works, and assess the claim. Loss adjusters may visit the site during or after restoration. We are experienced in working alongside loss adjusters — our documentation, methodology, and pricing are transparent and defensible. We can arrange site access for the loss adjuster and walk them through the damage, the response, and the restoration scope.

Payment options for large common property jobs

Major strata restoration projects — particularly those affecting multiple floors or the entire building — can run into significant costs. The body corporate is invoiced directly, and insurance reimbursement may take weeks or months. If the administrative fund or sinking fund cannot cover the immediate cost, payment plans are available through Blue Fire Finance. This allows the body corporate to spread the cost while waiting for the insurance claim to settle, without needing to levy owners for an emergency special levy upfront.

Common questions from strata managers and body corporate committees about disaster restoration for multi-unit buildings.

Need specific advice for your building? Report common property damage or read our Emergency Make-Safe Guide for full details on the $2,750 initial response.