Strata

Packages

One report.
Everything in it.

$850 incl GST. Five business days. Prepared for the owners corporation, written for the meeting.

There are no levels to choose between and no cheaper version that leaves something out. Every application gets the same assessment: what the works are, who can approve them, what they do to the building, what they trigger, risk-rated findings with recommended conditions, and resolution wording the committee can minute. A modest bathroom can carry more risk to a building than a large but straightforward alteration — so the work is not scaled to the size of the renovation, and neither is the fee.

Class 2 Renovation Assessment
$850 incl. GST 5 business days
The paperwork question
Classification against the statutory categories — cosmetic, minor renovation, or special resolution
Completeness check against the scheme's own requirements
Approval pathway — consent or CDC, construction certificate, DBP Act obligations, heritage, works by-law
Written recommendation and next steps for the committee
Wording for a referral, an information request, or a refusal for incompleteness — ready to minute
Wording for approval subject to specific recommended conditions
What the works do to the building — and what they trigger
Slab penetrations — whether common property is affected, and what certification the owners corporation should require
Wet areas relocated over habitable rooms below — identified from the drawings, with the consequence if it fails
Whether an acoustic report is required, and against which standard — NCC, consent authority, or the scheme’s by-laws
Whether the works engage structure, and whether a structural engineer’s assessment is required
Whether services or riser capacity are affected, and what specialist input that calls for
Whether fire separation or egress may be affected, and whether specialist assessment is required
Risk-rated findings with recommended conditions
Annotated markups of the applicant's own drawings
Two things are quoted separately, because they are not always needed.

Attendance on site — where the drawings cannot be trusted, which is common in buildings of the 1960s and 70s, the lot and the apartment below are attended, and common property, risers, access and egress are observed and photographed.

Coordinated engineering and legal input — where an application is disputed between owners, involves structural change, or will set the standard for every similar application in the building. The solicitor is engaged directly by the owners corporation; we coordinate and integrate that input.

Both are quoted before anything begins. Neither is required for an ordinary application.

This is not certification, and we are not certifiers. A registered certifier is appointed under statute to issue construction certificates, complying development certificates and occupation certificates, and to carry out the mandatory inspections that go with them. We are not registered certifiers, we issue no certificate, and nothing in our reports has statutory effect.

What we bring is twenty years of construction and design experience in Class 2 buildings, applied to reading a proposal and identifying what it will do to the building and what it triggers — including whether a certifier needs to be appointed at all, which is frequently the question nobody has asked.

What we do, and what we do not do. We are architects. We read the drawings, identify what the proposed works will do to the building, and determine which specialist assessments and certifications they trigger — so the owners corporation knows what to ask for before it decides.

We do not certify structural adequacy, acoustic performance, waterproofing, fire safety or services capacity. Those are determined by the relevant registered specialist. Our reports say when one is required, what question they should be asked, and what the owners corporation should have in hand before approving.

What that means in practice

One price, whatever the job

$850 incl GST, five business days from a complete submission. There is no cheaper tier for a small bathroom and no premium tier for a large alteration, because the question the committee has to answer is the same either way — and the small job is often the one that damages the building.

It costs the scheme nothing

The contribution is borne by the applicant as a condition of having the application considered — the same route by which a scheme already recovers by-law drafting and registration costs. Payable on submission, and not refundable and not dependent on the outcome.

The owners corporation is the client

The applicant pays, but the report is prepared for the owners corporation and for it alone. The applicant may not rely on it. Nothing in it approves anything — only the owners corporation can do that, and it is not bound by any recommendation we make.

Written for the meeting

Page one is the committee summary — the verdict band, the findings strip and four numbered next actions. Behind it sit three ready-to-adopt resolutions: refer to a general meeting, approve subject to conditions, or refuse with reasons. Drafting assistance for the committee to minute, settled by the scheme’s solicitor.

The clock is the reason it is quick

Five business days, because a scheme has three months from a complete application to give written reasons, and silence past that is not neutral. The report records the date the complete application was received and computes the date the decision is due.

If the building has to be seen

Attendance on site, and coordinated engineering or legal input, are quoted separately and only where the application genuinely calls for them. You are told what is involved and what it costs, for agreement, before any of it begins.