Who Manages a Strata Remedial Project, and What Does a Superintendent Do?
Most guidance for owners corporations stops at the diagnosis. You find out the balcony membranes have failed, or the facade needs concrete repairs, and the advice ends with "engage a contractor." Then the committee discovers that a remedial project involves tendering, a contract, progress claims, variations, disputes about whether work is defective, and a defects liability period that runs for a year after the scaffolding comes down. Somebody has to manage all of that, and it is not the strata manager and it is definitely not the treasurer.
That role is usually filled by a project manager, and on a properly structured contract, by a superintendent. If your committee has seen that word in a quote or a contract and nodded politely, this guide explains what it actually means, who does what on a remedial project, and why the superintendent's independence is one of the more useful protections an owners corporation has.
This guide is general information about how remedial projects are administered. It is not legal advice, and contract terms vary. For advice on a specific contract, speak with a construction lawyer.
Remedial projects have more participants than most committees expect, and confusion about roles is a common source of trouble.
The owners corporation is the client, and in contract terms the Principal. It holds the contract with the builder, pays for the work, and makes the decisions that matter.
The strata committee acts for the owners corporation day to day, within the authority the owners have given it.
The strata managing agent administers the scheme: meetings, levies, insurance, correspondence and record keeping. A strata manager is not a construction professional and is not there to run a remedial job, though they will coordinate the approvals and the paperwork around it.
The consultant is the engineer or building consultant who investigates the defect, diagnoses the cause, and specifies the remedial works. On many projects the same consultant then administers the contract as superintendent.
The contractor carries out the physical work, and in contract terms is the Contractor.
The superintendent administers the construction contract between the owners corporation and the contractor. This is the role people understand least, and it is the one worth understanding best.
Who is who on a strata remedial project
What a superintendent actually is
Australian construction contracts are commonly written on standard forms, most often AS 4000 or the older AS 2124. Those forms require the principal to appoint a superintendent, who is named in the contract but is not a party to it.
The superintendent wears two hats, and the distinction between them is the thing to grasp.
Hat one: agent of the principal. In this capacity the superintendent acts for the owners corporation. They issue directions to the contractor, review the programme, approve samples and shop drawings, require work to be opened up for inspection, and generally represent the owners corporation's interests on site. In this role, the owners corporation can instruct them.
Hat two: independent certifier. In this capacity the superintendent makes assessments that affect money and time: valuing progress claims, valuing variations, deciding extension of time claims, and certifying practical completion. Here the superintendent is required to act impartially, and the owners corporation's view is an input rather than an instruction.
The standard forms are explicit about this. AS 2124 requires the superintendent to act "honestly and fairly." AS 4000 requires the principal to ensure that at all times there is a superintendent, and that the superintendent fulfils the role and functions "reasonably and in good faith."
Australian courts have confirmed the distinction. When exercising certifying powers, the superintendent is not acting as the principal's agent, and an arrangement that purported to restrict the superintendent's power to certify would be a serious problem. The leading NSW authority on this is well established, and the practical message from it is consistent: a superintendent who simply does whatever the principal wants is not doing the job the contract requires.
Why that independence protects owners
Committees sometimes find this frustrating. You are paying the superintendent, so why will they not simply certify what suits you?
Because a certificate that is not honest and impartial is worth very little. If the superintendent under-certifies a progress claim or refuses a legitimate extension of time because the owners corporation asked them to, the contractor has a straightforward dispute, and the owners corporation carries the cost of it. Compromised certification does not save money. It creates claims.
The genuine protection runs the other way. An impartial superintendent will not certify defective work as complete, will not approve a variation that is really the contractor recovering an underpriced tender, and will not release retention on work that has not been done. That is what an owners corporation is actually buying, and it only works if the independence is real.
The stages of a remedial project
A well-run remedial job moves through a predictable sequence. Knowing it helps a committee understand what they are approving and when.
1. Investigation and diagnosis. The consultant establishes what is failing and why, documented in a report. Getting this right determines everything downstream, and it is covered in our guide to building defect reports.
2. Scope and specification. The consultant designs the remediation and produces a technical specification defining the work, the methodology, the materials and the performance requirements. This is what makes tenders comparable, and it is the engineered solutions stage.
3. Tender. The specification goes out to a shortlist of suitable contractors. Because every tenderer is pricing the same defined scope, the returned prices can be compared like for like. Without a specification, you are comparing different jobs at different prices and calling it a tender.
4. Tender assessment and award. The consultant reviews submissions on price, methodology, programme, capability and compliance with the scope, and recommends. The owners corporation, with its strata manager and where necessary its lawyer, enters the contract.
5. Construction and contract administration. The superintendent administers the contract: site inspections, quality checks against the specification, assessing progress claims, handling variations and extension of time claims, chairing site meetings, and keeping the owners corporation informed. Resident communication matters enormously here, because remedial work in an occupied building is disruptive.
6. Practical completion. The superintendent inspects and certifies when the works reach practical completion, usually with a list of minor items still to be finished.
7. Defects liability period. A period follows, commonly twelve months, during which the contractor must rectify defects that emerge. Retention money or security is typically held during this time. The superintendent inspects at the end and certifies final completion, at which point the balance is released.
That last stage is one owners corporations frequently neglect. A defects liability period is only useful if someone inspects before it expires and issues the list. Committees that forget lose the protection they paid for.
Why the consultant who diagnosed the problem often administers the contract
There is a practical logic to the same practice carrying the project through from investigation to completion.
The firm that diagnosed the defect and wrote the specification knows what the work is meant to achieve and why each requirement is there. When the contractor proposes a substitution or claims a variation, that firm can assess it against the engineering intent rather than just the words on the page. Handing the job to a separate administrator means someone learns the project from scratch, and the gaps between consultants are where cost and quality problems tend to appear.
There is also accountability. A consultant who specified the work and then oversees its delivery cannot blame a poor outcome on the previous party.
The essential condition, as always, is that the consultant is independent of the contractor doing the work. A firm that diagnoses, specifies, administers the contract and also performs the construction is certifying its own work, which removes the protection entirely.
What owners corporations most often get wrong
From the pattern of projects that go badly, the recurring mistakes are:
Going straight to contractor quotes without a specification. Every quote covers a different scope, so the cheapest looks best and turns into variations later.
Treating the strata manager as the project manager. Strata managers administer the scheme, not construction contracts, and putting them in that position is unfair to them and risky for the scheme.
Appointing no superintendent, or leaving the role vacant. Certificates issued by someone who is not the named superintendent can be invalid, which creates real problems when payment is disputed.
Pressuring the superintendent to certify favourably. It rarely works and it creates the contractor's dispute for them.
Approving variations informally. Variations should be directed and valued through the contract, not agreed in a corridor conversation.
Letting the defects liability period lapse without an inspection.
Not budgeting for the consultant. Investigation, specification and contract administration are project costs, and they belong in the funding plan alongside the construction, which is covered in our guide to capital works funds.
What it costs
Consultant fees on remedial projects are usually structured as a fixed fee for defined stages such as investigation, reporting and specification, and then either a fixed fee or a percentage of construction value for contract administration and superintendency.
Committees sometimes see the consultant's fee as an overhead on top of the "real" cost of the work. In practice it is the part that determines whether the construction spend achieves anything. A defined scope produces comparable tenders, which usually saves more than the fee itself, and competent administration prevents the variations, disputes and defective work that inflate the final account well beyond the tendered price.
Frequently asked questions
What does a superintendent do on a construction contract? A superintendent administers the contract between the principal and the contractor. They act partly as the principal's agent, issuing directions and reviewing the work, and partly as an independent certifier, valuing progress claims and variations, deciding extension of time claims and certifying practical completion. They are named in the contract but are not a party to it.
Is the superintendent working for the owners corporation? Partly. When acting as the principal's agent they represent the owners corporation and can be instructed. When exercising certifying functions they must act impartially, and standard forms require them to act honestly and fairly, or reasonably and in good faith. That independence is what makes their certificates meaningful.
Can our strata manager run the remedial project? Strata managers administer the scheme rather than construction contracts. They coordinate approvals, levies, meetings and records, and they are an essential part of the process, but tendering, specification, contract administration and certification are construction roles requiring different expertise.
Do we need a superintendent for a small job? It depends on the contract and the size of the work. Minor works may be managed under a simpler arrangement. Once a project involves a formal contract, staged payments, variations and a defects liability period, proper administration protects the scheme, and the standard forms assume a superintendent.
What is a defects liability period? A period after practical completion, commonly twelve months, during which the contractor must rectify defects that appear. Security or retention is usually held during it. The protection only works if someone inspects the work before the period expires and issues a list of items to be rectified.
Who chooses the contractor? The owners corporation does, on the consultant's recommendation following a tender assessed on price, methodology, programme and capability. The consultant advises. The decision, and the contract, belong to the owners corporation.
Get the project run properly, not just started
Remedial work is where an owners corporation's money actually gets spent, and the difference between a project that resolves the problem and one that produces a dispute is rarely the contractor's hourly rate. It is whether the scope was defined, the tender was comparable, the work was inspected against the specification, and the contract was administered by someone competent and impartial.
Assentra is engaged from the initial investigation through to project superintendence, which means the practice that diagnoses the defect and specifies the remediation can also administer its delivery, and we are independent of the contractors who carry out the work. Learn more about our project management services or get in touch to discuss your project.