Leaky Condo Entry #1
I've decided to log the process of my leaky condo on here giving updates as they come in so as to inform the rest of the world of my mistake of buying one.
You see, a couple years ago I bought a place for the first time, and was told by my realtor don't get it inspected it's just a waste of money. So I didn't (that was mistake #1) however that being said I talked to other owners who got their places looked at and the inspector said it was ok (inspectors are bunk). So anyhow I moved in and then a few months later I kept hearing rumblings of leaky this and water damage that. Then it was forgotten about till 8 months ago when the strata got the place looked at by a company that deems buildings leaky. It turns out that it is leaky for sure. Then I almost fell over at the cost of it, estimated at a mere 1.2 million dollars to fix. Unfortunately there's only 18 suites in the building, that's 70 thousand each.
Well tonight we're starting the ball rolling on getting it fixed. The suites are all voting on which construction estimate we're going with and after that, designs are drawn colors are picked and siding is sledgehammered off while you're sleeping at 7 am.
You see the place I lived at before this was a leaky condo and I was renting. I was going to move out when rumors that it was leaky emerged, but they lowered the rent by 30% which made my two bedroom, two bathroom place 700 bucks a month, and who could turn down that? So I stayed. I don't know if it was worth it though, I was robbed twice(once while I was sleeping) and there were workers taking out my bedroom windows while I was in bed. There's nothing like waking up to a grubby worker taking your window out, saying goodmorning while you're laying there wiping the sleep from your eyes. My favorite though was a large cement patio below my bedroom, they jackhammered the whole cement slab off. Every morning for about 4 months I was awoken by the sounds of jackhammering. I think they became addicted to jackhammering cause they jackhammered pretty much every slab of concrete around the building, and when the jackhammering ended there was months of the sledghammers driving into the wall.
Anyhow so I know what I'm in for, and I'll be posting here on how it all pans out. My place should be finished sometime the beginning of next year, and it should be an adventure getting there!
Wish me luck, and if you know where I can find 70 grand that would be helpful.
You see, a couple years ago I bought a place for the first time, and was told by my realtor don't get it inspected it's just a waste of money. So I didn't (that was mistake #1) however that being said I talked to other owners who got their places looked at and the inspector said it was ok (inspectors are bunk). So anyhow I moved in and then a few months later I kept hearing rumblings of leaky this and water damage that. Then it was forgotten about till 8 months ago when the strata got the place looked at by a company that deems buildings leaky. It turns out that it is leaky for sure. Then I almost fell over at the cost of it, estimated at a mere 1.2 million dollars to fix. Unfortunately there's only 18 suites in the building, that's 70 thousand each.
Well tonight we're starting the ball rolling on getting it fixed. The suites are all voting on which construction estimate we're going with and after that, designs are drawn colors are picked and siding is sledgehammered off while you're sleeping at 7 am.
You see the place I lived at before this was a leaky condo and I was renting. I was going to move out when rumors that it was leaky emerged, but they lowered the rent by 30% which made my two bedroom, two bathroom place 700 bucks a month, and who could turn down that? So I stayed. I don't know if it was worth it though, I was robbed twice(once while I was sleeping) and there were workers taking out my bedroom windows while I was in bed. There's nothing like waking up to a grubby worker taking your window out, saying goodmorning while you're laying there wiping the sleep from your eyes. My favorite though was a large cement patio below my bedroom, they jackhammered the whole cement slab off. Every morning for about 4 months I was awoken by the sounds of jackhammering. I think they became addicted to jackhammering cause they jackhammered pretty much every slab of concrete around the building, and when the jackhammering ended there was months of the sledghammers driving into the wall.
Anyhow so I know what I'm in for, and I'll be posting here on how it all pans out. My place should be finished sometime the beginning of next year, and it should be an adventure getting there!
Wish me luck, and if you know where I can find 70 grand that would be helpful.
posted by Supercrazykid at 10:46 AM
5 Comments:
Hang in there buddy.
Sorry to hear that Hoppy... keep hope alive. I have many beers ready for you if you need it!
Thanks guys!
Isn't there some kind of insurance or something that will help you take care of that? That really sucks if there isn't. I could start buying lottery tickets and if I win I'll give you some! :)
Be careful. If your Strata obtained multiple estimates, you are essentially required by case law to accept the lowest bid. I went through leaky condo repairs 8 years ago. We obtained six bids from construction firms and the lowest bid was 20% below the rest. We thought that the firm was low-balling and we excluded it from consideration and went with the 2nd lowest bid. The low bid firm took us to court and won. There is well-established case law that essentially says that once you ask a firm to bid on a project, you are deeming them to be qualified to do the work and you have to take the lowest bid. Hopefully you have an engineering firm managing the project. Ask them, they'll let you know that the standard statement of "no obligation to accept the lowest bid" in the bid requests are essentially meaningless.
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