A Guide to Appointing the right Structural Repair Specialist

12 January 2018
By Remedial Team

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Whether you own or manage a residential or commercial property, routine buildings inspections should be something you factor into your maintenance plans. Whether it is to ensure compliance with building or fire codes, or as part of a good maintenance schedule, property inspections help to keep you abreast of the health of your building. Done properly, they ensure your property is compliant; detect potential structural problems before they become larger (and significantly costlier); as well protecting the value of your asset into the long-term.

Structural problems and thus structural repairs are different to renovations or non-structural repairs. The need for structural repairs can vary, but the range of services usually required included a range of issues from concrete cancer, to balustrade replacement upgrades, through to carbon fibre strengthening, brick growth and waterproofing.

In the situation that you do need to hire a structural repair specialist, it is important that you find the right one, but knowing what to look for – for something you have little experience with – in a contractor can be somewhat overwhelming. To help make life that little bit easier, we have put together a cheat-sheet on hiring a structural repair specialist.

• Research

The first thing you should do is some research. Understand to the best of your abilities what the issues affecting your property are, and if you can, identify not only what the larger more obvious issue is, but also smaller, seemingly unrelated ones as well.

• Approach a third-party consultant

It may seem like an unnecessary expense, but for larger jobs, hiring a professional consultant such as a structural engineer can save you time and money. These engineers have the experience to identify your issues and can be appointed to oversee the appointment of the right building repair contractor. Further, they have the expertise to ensure the applied solutions are adequate and cost-effective for your particular circumstances.

• Get a Written Report

Your chosen specialist should be able to inspect, analyse the damage and provide a written report which outlines the issues and the remediation techniques. This report should itemise all the defects, their approach to rectification, building materials and other pertinent facts.

• Ask for Qualifications

Whether you use a consulting engineer or going direct, it is advisable that you ask for the necessary certifications that show they are qualified for the job. Case studies, testimonials, accreditations will prove that the expert has the authority to perform the necessary repair work.
Tenure within the industry in the area of structural repair (as opposed to say general building) is another strong indicator of expertise. A company like Remedial Building Services who have more than 40 years of experience as an industry leader, demonstrates that the team behind the company has working knowledge and experience on every scenario about building structure damages, whereas a company with 40 years’ experience in the construction of new homes are not going to be able to help

• Ask for a Proposal

After the consultation, the structural repair expert should work on the numbers and provide you with an estimate of the building repair, a timeline for completion and their relevant insurances.

• Hire the Structural Repair Specialist

Once you are confident with the supplier, ask them to draft a contract and get ready to begin.

Ultimately finding the right structural repair expert to look after your building is important in ensuring the safety of everyone in and around the building as well as protecting your significant investment. If you want to make sure you’re getting reliable, long-term solutions for your building structures in Australia, ask us how we can help you.

We have over 40 years of experience in providing specialised building repairs for a variety of clients in Australia. With our considerable experience, we have also established a strong connection with structural and façade engineers who we can tap into for highly specialised situations when necessary.

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