Building Insurance Valuations

from $220

Sample reports are available upon request

Specialising in Strata Title Property

We Value Residential, Commercial, Industrial and Retail Strata Title Properties for Insurance Purposes.

We provide valuation certificates for the replacement cost of the buildings of the Strata Plan in order to comply with s85 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 and Part 3 of the Regulations 2006. Our chief valuer has over 25 years experience including Expert Evidence in Courts and due diligence on the largest property transactions in Australia to the smaller suburban cottage, amongst other things.

There are legal requirements to obtain Building Insurance Valuations from either a registered valuer or quantity surveyor. We have both Quantity Surveyors and Registered valuers to provide these valuations for you. (Strata Schemes Mgt Act 1996, Section 85 - qualification of valuers, s. 82(6) - the manner of calculating the amount under an insurance damage policy, and s. 99 - frequency of valuations, each five years).

Although we have both valuers and quantity surveyors on staff we recommend that a registered Valuer carries out your Building Insurance Valuation. Valuations can only be carried out by registered valuers.

Be aware that building costs can increase significantly greater than CPI. For example in the middle six months of 2004 concrete and steel costs rose by 25%. There is a danger of simply applying a CPI or arbitrary increase without being familiar with the movement in construction costs. Use our service to determine an accurate and up to date Building Insurance Valuation for your sum insured and compliance with the Act.

If you are under-insured the insurance company will use the “co-insurance” or averaging clause of the Policy and may only pay a portion of the expected sum. The short fall may have to be paid by the Strata manager if found to be negligent by not getting an updated and current Building Insurance Valuation.

It is currently a statutory requirement for all Strata Plans to conduct a valuation for insurance purposes by a Registered Valuer or quantity surveyor once every 5 years. Good strata managers recommend that a Building Insurance Valuation be obtained at least every 3 years. This protects against potential loss from under-insurance. We consider that the best solution is to have an annual inspection by a registered valuer to ensure that your sum insured keeps up to date with the market changes in building costs.

When we receive your instructions we will,

Inspect the subject property and assess the materials and the amount of materials required for complete replacement of the building and its surrounds
Photos of the building and various aspects will be taken.
Cost those areas and materials and apply the additional items specified in the Regulations of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 for the manner of calculation.
Provide certificates of value, usually one bound copy, one unbound for photocopying and a pdf file for emailing.
The Building Insurance Valuation will be carried out by a Registered Valuer without limitation.

We cover everything required by the Act. Our report details the individual components that correctly make up a valid building insurance valuation such as demolition costs, council and other professional fees, escalation, landscaping.

We also take into account different cost factors such as location (in a more affluent area or less accessible area), different types of construction material, different finishes etc.

Last calendar year we assessed over $11 billion worth of property.