Corrosion from salt spray can be a real problem for common property metal fire door frames. Your Body Corporate (made up of all owners) has a duty to maintain the common property in good condition.
Keeping an eye out for corrosion on your common property fire door frames, and treating it before it becomes an expensive project, can save your owners money in the long term. Making sure your Committee complies with the proper procedures for making decisions authorising such work requires a detailed understanding of body corporate legislation and regulations.
Follow this Committee's journey in quickly resolving much-needed maintenance work to corroding fire door frames to multi-level residential apartment building, one block back from the beach:
Trigger: During the post-Committee meeting walk around the building with the building manager, corrosion of x4 fire door frames was identified. The maintenance required a specialist contractor and was therefore not part of the building manager's annual fee and scope of caretaking duties.
Quote for work
Quote was sought from a qualified and experienced painter who had already performed great work at the building to:
sand back the corrosion on the frames;
treat with a rust converter product;
apply x2 coats of epoxy enamel (on Day 1);
apply x2 coats of all surface primer (on Day 2).
Committee decision to approve Quote
A Notice of Vote Outside of a Committee meeting was issued on behalf of the Secretary to all Committee Members, to approve the quotation. The amount of the quote was less than the 'relevant limit for committee spending' ($200 x number of lots).
All Committee Members voted on the motion - the resolution was passed when the majority of all voting Committee Members agreed to the motion (which was within 24 hours).
Advice of the motion was given to all lot owners.
Painter starts work
The painter was advised that his quote was accepted by the Committee and a start date for the project was set for the following week.
On Day 1: Painter showed Committee Members the products to be used:
On Day 1: Painter performed the sanding of the corrosion and applied the rust converter & epoxy enamel to the affected parts of the frame and let dry overnight (shown below):
On Day 2: Painter painted the x2 topcoats (shown below):
Painter has advised that due to the proximity to the ocean, the doors may need to be treated and maintained every 2-3 years.
The price of the fire door frame maintenance has therefore been added into the sinking fund forecast to help the Body Corporate ensure it raises enough money in its sinking fund to cover the future care and maintenance of those door frames.
Time from identification of corrosion to completion of maintenance work - 3 weeks.
The Nuu Co's inclusive annual fee allows Committees to make as many decisions outside of Committee Meetings as they need to, without additional fees, to make sure their Body Corporate is promptly complying with its duty to maintain common property.
This means contractors are not waiting months for their quotes to be approved, and creates a reputation of a well-functioning, easy to deal with, apartment building.