Mitchell Brandtman’s thoughts go out to everyone impacted by Cyclone Debbie and the resultant deluge that hit South East QLD and Northern NSW yesterday. Our team have been on the ground this morning assessing the impact to our sites and are in the process of contacting clients to offer any assistance.
For those that can’t get out to sites, a general update and some feedback from site:
– So far the majority of sites that were out of the ground have only suffered minor storm damage and water ingress and will dry out over the weekend however there are numerous sites across the South East with flooded basements and excavations
– Only a small number of sites are reporting significant damage
– The Gold Coast has been hardest hit so far with site flooding – some units are viewing water a lot closer than planned
– Subbies are back onsite at approx. 75% of sites
– Most cranes in Brisbane are not working today due to wind
– Multiple reports of site and safety barriers blown over and in the process of being repaired
– Scaffolding teams have been working since midnight fixing loose scaffolding and inspecting bases positioned on water-logged ground
– Pumps and tankers are in demand and are working away at numerous sites
– Developers and Contractors are all dusting off their contracts and reading the fine print on rain (and the effects of rain) delays
– We are hearing 2-10 days clean up time in general, however the worst impacted sites could be significantly longer
– There has been a change in recent years for Contractors on larger projects to take on the risk of all rain delays – check your contract
– Generally Developers will wear the time delay and contractors the cost of the clean-up, however the extent and definitions will vary between contracts
– Contractors are generally still entitled to be paid for work completed but damaged in the storm – insurance may be available to offset the impact to the contractor of repairing the damage but the impacts of this are outside of the contract progress claim process
– Civil contractors are busy calculating the damage and maybe be considering if self-insuring was the way to go
– Body Corporates are busy marking up water leaks and are already on the phone to builders’ maintenance teams – this the biggest rain event that many newly constructed buildings have experienced
– Contractors that were already under stress didn’t need this
Stay dry and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to call one of the team 1800 808 289. Here are a few photos of our sites today.
