Insurance Repairs
Common Property Insurance Repairs for Owners Corporations and Strata Managers
AxisPro Constructions repairs and reinstates common property for Victorian owners corporations, strata managers and facility managers after water ingress, fire, impact and structural damage. Every scope is written with the common-property and lot split set out in full, works are staged around residents and trading tenants, and the reporting is prepared so a committee can circulate it without editing it first.
What we deliver
Common property reinstatement
Damage to buildings, structures, walls, service installations and shared services on common property.
High-rise water ingress
Leak rectification and reinstatement in occupied towers, including source investigation before repair.
Cladding
Replacement and rectification, including works arising from insurance and defect-adjacent claims.
Balconies, planter boxes and membranes
Rectification where failure has caused ingress to lots below.
Commercial and retail tenancies
Fire, water and impact reinstatement in mixed-use buildings.
Common area upgrades
Amenities and common area works arising from a claim.
Reporting a committee can use
Photographic progress reports, a published program with milestone dates, clear variation documentation, and scopes written so the common-property and lot-owner split is legible. Strata managers and facility managers do not need to translate our reports before circulating them to owners.
The ten steps
Step 1: Damage Is Reported on Common Property
A resident, tenant or contractor reports damage. Before anything is moved, the condition is recorded — in a shared building the evidence is harder to recover than in a house, because access is controlled and multiple parties are involved.
- The manager
- Records the report, the date and the affected lots, and photographs the damage and its path through the building.
- Affected lot owners
- Are asked to photograph damage inside their own lots on the same day.
- Keep together
- Contractor attendance reports, plumber findings and any earlier reports of the same issue.
What we watch for: Water damage reported lot by lot over several weeks, with no single record of the path through the building. It makes the source far harder to establish and the claim far harder to scope.
Step 2: Establish What Is Common Property and What Is Lot
Before the claim goes anywhere, the split has to be settled. It determines who claims, who pays the excess, and what the scope may include.
- Common property
- Under Victorian owners corporation rules this includes buildings, structures, walls, service installations and services shared beyond a single lot.
- Lot property
- The owner’s own space and, generally, their contents and internal finishes — usually a separate claim on their own policy.
- Where we help
- We scope both sides separately and clearly, so neither the OC nor the lot owner pays for the other’s damage.
What we watch for: Scopes that blur the boundary. It is the most common reason a common property claim stalls, and the most common source of disputes between an OC and its owners.
Step 3: Notify the Owners Corporation Insurer
Victorian owners corporations must hold reinstatement and replacement insurance for buildings on common property, plus public liability cover. The OC or its manager lodges the claim on that policy.
- What is lodged
- Policy details, the date and cause, the photographic record, affected lots and any contractor reports.
- Reinstatement cover
- Extends to replacement, repair and rebuilding of the damaged property, demolition and debris removal, and professional fees.
- Lot owners
- Lodge separately for their own contents and internal damage where their policy responds.
What we watch for: The OC claim and the lot owners’ claims progressing on different timelines with no coordination, so the building is opened up twice.
Step 4: We Assess and Document
A builder inspects the common property and the affected lots, establishes the source rather than only the symptom, and records what the insurer and the committee both need.
- Source first
- In water ingress claims we investigate where the water is entering before pricing what it damaged. Repairing the symptom guarantees a repeat claim.
- Access
- Coordinated with the manager, with notice to residents and out-of-hours inspection where lots are occupied.
- Output
- A written condition report with dated photography, suitable for circulation to owners.
What we watch for: Scoping the stained ceiling and not the failed membrane above it. The claim closes, the water returns, and the second claim is harder to place.
Step 5: Scope of Works, With the Split Written Out
We produce one scope with the common property and lot works clearly separated, each line-item priced, in the format the insurer or adjuster expects.
- Why separated
- So the committee can see exactly what the OC is funding, and each lot owner can see what falls to them.
- Betterment and upgrades
- Any owner-funded improvement is separated from the insured reinstatement and priced on its own.
- Format
- Line-item, in the insurer’s or adjuster’s required format, so it can be assessed without a second round of questions.
What we watch for: A single blended figure. A committee cannot approve what it cannot break down, and an insurer will not pay for what it cannot separate.
Step 6: Committee Approval and Owner Communication
Common property works usually need a committee resolution, and always need residents to know what is happening.
- What we provide
- A scope, program and photographic report written for circulation — no translation needed before it goes to owners.
- Meetings
- We attend committee or general meetings to present the scope and answer questions where that helps the decision.
- Residents
- A works notice covering dates, hours, access, noise and parking, issued before work starts.
What we watch for: Works starting before residents have been told. It generates complaints that land on the manager, not the builder, and slows the whole program.
Step 7: Contract, Permits and Practitioners
Contract executed with the owners corporation, permits obtained and registered practitioners engaged before work begins.
- Permits
- Structural and most reinstatement works need a building permit. We confirm requirements as part of scoping.
- Building access
- Inductions, site rules, lift protection, loading dock bookings and after-hours arrangements agreed in advance.
- Insurances
- Certificates of currency provided to the OC and the manager before mobilisation.
What we watch for: Mobilising without lift and loading access confirmed. In an occupied tower it can cost a week before a tool is lifted.
Step 8: Staged Works Around Residents and Tenants
One supervisor, a published program with milestone dates, and works staged so the building keeps functioning.
- Occupied buildings
- Protected access routes, dust and noise control, and out-of-hours programming where the works affect entries, lifts or trading tenants.
- Single point of contact
- The manager deals with one named person, not a rotating list of trades.
- Progress reporting
- Photographic updates at agreed intervals, in a form the committee can circulate.
What we watch for: Programs that ignore trading hours and resident access. In a mixed-use building that is what turns a repair into a complaint file.
Step 9: Concealed Damage and Variations
Opening up common property in an older building routinely reveals more than the scope allowed for.
- How we handle it
- Documented with photographic substantiation, submitted to the insurer, and reported to the committee before the work is carried out.
- Common finds
- Failed membranes, corroded services, previous unpermitted alterations, and damage extending into further lots.
- Before linings close
- Concealed work is verified and photographed, so what is behind the wall is on record for the building’s history.
What we watch for: Variations approved by the builder and the insurer but never reported to the committee — which is how a manager gets ambushed at the next meeting.
Step 10: Handover, Reporting and Warranty
Defect close-out, compliance certificates, warranties and a complete as-completed record, issued to the owners corporation and the manager.
- The handover pack
- Certificates, warranties and the full photographic record, in a form that goes into the building’s maintenance history.
- Maintenance plan
- Where the works affect it, we set out what has changed so the OC’s maintenance plan can be updated.
- If a dispute cannot be resolved
- Owners corporation disputes about repairing and maintaining common property can be taken to VCAT under section 169A of the Owners Corporations Act 2006.
What we watch for: Handover without a document set the building can keep. A common property repair is part of the building’s permanent record, not just a closed job.
Talk to a builder about the damage
Send us your claim number, your insurer or adjuster's details and a few photos, and we'll come back to you within 48 business hours.
or call 1800 294 777