How Can We Help You as a Developer?

by | Mar 12, 2024 | Project Management, Quantity Surveying

building

Building a new development is always a big endeavour and involves many steps and stakeholders. Each stage of the process is full of requirements, documentation, and it’s important to know how the whole process happens so you can plan yourself for the adventure!

Obtaining Project Finance

So, you have your DA and are in the process of putting together construction certificate documentation. This is the time to start thinking about how you’re going to fund your project. This is where a registered quantity surveyor comes in, and you want one that is on the panel of all the major and minor banks, and financial institutions like us, of course!

We prepare this report to ensure all risks associated with the project are identified and mitigating strategies are developed and documented. It is our responsibility to assist the lender in performing their due diligence process, as we represent the financiers’ interests. This report includes a detailed construction budget estimate of the project, a comprehensive review of project documentation, cashflow forecast, amongst many other things.

Progress Drawdown Reporting Throughout Construction

Once construction has started, it is a mandatory requirement of the project financier to have a quantity surveyor visiting the site, usually monthly, to track the progress and evaluate the payment entitled to the developer. This is also a means to maintain cashflow since each progress claim is assessed at a trade on a cost-to-complete basis.

Our team understands the importance of a project’s cashflow, therefore we review all ongoing documentation throughout the construction lifecycle to identify potential project risks and assist in mitigating them.

Claiming Thousands of Dollars Back

If you plan on keeping some units of your project (or just want to add value to your clients), you can order Tax Depreciation Reports. You can claim thousands of dollars back with our tax depreciation reports.

Before Getting Your OC…

If your building is 4 storeys or higher, then you must lodge a Building Bond in the form of 3% of the contract price with Fair Trading in order to obtain the Occupation Certificate.

We prepare the Strata Building Bond Report which complies with the requirements of NSW Fair Trading and takes the pressure off you. It includes the following:

  1. Schedule of As-Built Documents
  2. Quantity Surveyors Cost Estimate
  3. Contract Price Summary and Building Bond Amount
  4. Quantity Surveyors Certificate
  5. Completed Draft Bank Guarantee (also submitted to your project financier)

Before Registering Your Strata Plans

In the case there is the formation of a Building Committee, where the building will be divided into multiple strata lots, you will need to register a list of shared facilities and the division of cost schedule as part of the Strata Management Statement for strata registration. We prepare this for you! It includes:

  1. Strata Plans identification and description.
  2. Shared facilities maps of every floor and building including podium.
  3. Categorization of share facilities based on system and use for ease of reference.

Post-Occupancy Phase: Dealing with Defects

If you lodged the Strata Building Bond, then you will need to complete all stages of the SBBIS. We are inspectors under the Scheme and cover all report stages:

Stage 3: Inspector’s Defects Interim Report: Within 12 months after building work is finished, a quantity surveyor needs to prepare a defects report and a Building Maintenance Schedule (we will talk about it soon).

Stage 5: Inspector’s Defects Final Report: Final inspection to assess if any primarily identified defects still need to be rectified.

Stage 6: Cost Rectification Report: In case any defects still need to be rectified, Archi-QS prepares a report to estimate how much each rectification is going to cost.

Building Maintenance Schedule

In Stage 3 of SBBIS you will need a Building Maintenance Schedule. This documents how every common property item should be maintained. Lots of maintenance schedules carried out by the builder often miss items of common property, leaving the property open to avoidable wear and tear which reduces the effective lives and leaves the developer more open to defects claims during the statutory warranty period. Hence, obtaining a third-party maintenance schedule ensure all assets are covered and maintenance procedures captured.

Our schedule includes:

  1. All warranties for systems, equipment and things referred to in the schedule.
  2. Any manuals or maintenance requirements provided by the manufacturer of those things, and
  3. The names and contact details of the manufacturers and installers of those things.

Well, it sure is a long process to start a new development but don’t stress, Archi-QS supports you in every step you need to take. Seriously, from pre-construction to post-occupancy, our team is ready to guide you. You can always contact us via e-mail and let us know how we can help you.