>Community Update 21 May 2011
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23 May deadline for claims for damage from 22 February earthquake
Scroll to the bottom of newsletter for info.
Now that we’re starting to get some building action in Mt Pleasant local resident Greg Young offers the following advice.
As a brief overview, all work has nominated “Project Management Organisations (PMO)”. I’ll list the ones I know about, but there is probably more.
Work estimated at under $100,000 +GST
Fletcher Construction = EQC
Work estimated at over $100,000 +GST
Hawkins = NZI, State, IAG, Lantern
Stream Group = Tower
MWH/Mainzeal = Vero, AA
Beca = Medical Assurance
Arrow = AMI
The initial procedure is (please note that this is just a general overview and may differ from company to company):
1. EQC complete a rapid assessment – this is just a quick evaluation to let them know what is damaged and what isn’t – it is non-conclusive
2. EQC complete a thorough inspection so that they can establish a method to fix, and a cost associated
Your insurance company will also do their own inspections. There is an overlap which is currently being legislated to allow insurance companies to tell EQC that the damage is over $100K – but this isn’t finalised yet.
1. Insurance companies PMO will do an initial assessment of damage, and forward this on to the insurance company.
2. Insurance company will accept liability of the damage based on the initial PMO inspection and hand it back to the PMO.
3. PMO will assign a claim manager, and do an in depth assessment with cost adjusters and structural engineers to work out how to fix the buildings (if possible) and the cost to do so.
The only way we have been able to speed up this laborious process is to talk directly with the claim managers – if you don’t have one yet, put pressure on your insurance companies to accept liability and then put pressure on your PMO to assign a claim manager.
Some insurance companies are accepting independent engineer reports for building damage, and quantity surveyors for repair costs – it is worth asking.
Once all of this has been you need to make a very important decision.
You have the option of letting the PMO manage the repairs, or you can opt out and manage it yourself (take a cash payout).
If your house is a complete demolition and rebuild, you can also build it on another site.
The main advantage of letting the PMO manage the repairs is that you’re not fixed to their estimate of costs – if other problems are found, then they will be fixed at no cost to yourselves.
If you opt out, then you only have the agreed amount estimated to work with – if this is based on a full demolition, then you do get the flexibility of using that money on a completely different design if you like.
There are a few points crucial points that you need to take care over. If these points aren’t ensured to be correct, then you may end up losing money / having legal issues / being unable to sell.
1. Make sure that any work the Fletchers Construction builders are doing is what your insurance company has authorised – if they are only authorised to demolish for safety reasons and then protect your building from weather damage – make sure that is all they do.
2. Unless the repair work is just fixing something that was broken, then you’ll require a building consent – for example, if you’re changing your cladding from brick to timber. Check the attached information from the Department of Building and Housing http://www.dbh.govt.nz/UserFiles/File/Publications/Building/Guidance-information/pdf/dbh-guide-for-building-work-consent-not-required.pdf
3. If you can, nominate an architect/architectural designer to act on your behalf with your PMO. This ensures that things progress for you, and when the PMO has finalised their proposal for you, you have a professional to check what they are telling you (you may have to pay for this time personally, but it is money well spent, and may be able to be reimbursed once the building contract is discussed).
4. Ensure your architect/architectural designer has experience on the hills – it is a very specialised environment that we live in, and a lot can go wrong if done without appropriate knowledge.
5. Ask your architect/architectural designer to recommend builders with experience on the hills – these builders will then need to be registered with the PMO so they can complete the work for you.
6. Most of the buildings on the hills are by necessity architecturally designed, so professional fees should be covered by your insurance company – check your policies fine print. This will cover fees for redesigning your current building to today’s standards, but also can cover design fees to design a different building that is the same size and specification level (as determined by your PMO).
7. If you have a set of existing drawings, then that will help the accuracy of the estimate and specification level considerably – the council do have copies of a lot of our houses on their property files.
As I mentioned, I have a list of architects and architectural designers that live in our neighbourhood that have experience designing in this specialised environment – I have no problem with people calling me for help. These designers will have builders that they use on hill projects, so that we can ensure the quality of design and build is up to the standard it needs to be.
There is a lot more information that can be elaborated on, but at this stage since the systems are still evolving.
Greg Young greg@LSARC.co.nz
Car wash in support of Mt Pleasant Squash
St Andrews College Students are required to complete community service to gain their school diploma. Sunday the 22nd and 29th of May, from 11am-4pm. Six students will be holding a carwash in the club car park, and all proceeds will be donated to the Squash Club.
$5.00 per wash.
Get a clean car and support the Squash Club.
Hitching Posts in place of Buses on the Hill
As it will be some time before we have a bus service back on the hill, local resident Derek McCullough has come up with the idea of hitching posts. This system involves identifying a set of stops where locals can pick up other locals and take them to Ferrymead or maybe even to town depending on the people concerned. It also involves picking people back up from Ferrymead and taking them up to whatever part of the hill they want to go. This scheme is still being worked on but for now we need residents who live on Mt Pleasant Road to indicate to us where they think the hitching posts need to be on Mt Pleasant Road. We have a pretty good idea for the other streets. Please email Derek with your suggestions. mcculloughs@clear.net.nz
If you, or someone you know, have experienced new or further damage to your property or contents from the 22 February 2011 earthquake and have not yet made a claim with EQC for that event, please lodge a claim by Monday 23 May 2011 either online at: www.eqc.govt.nz or by ringing 0800 DAMAGE (0800 326 243).
Even if you lodged a claim for the 4 September 2010 earthquake and/or subsequent aftershocks you still need to lodge a new claim with EQC if you have experienced new or further damage from the earthquake on 22 February.
If you have made an EQC claim for your property damage caused by the 22 February earthquake but haven’t told us about damage to contents, contact us on 0800 DAMAGE (0800 326 243) with your EQC claim number to add contents damage to your existing claim.
