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Choosing a façade remediation contractor: ten checks.
What to ask anyone quoting on your façade, what a good answer sounds like, and how we answer each one ourselves. For owners corporations, strata managers and asset owners in Victoria.
01, Match the contractor to the job
Not every façade job needs the same kind of contractor.
The right choice depends on what is actually wrong with the wall. Here is how the work divides.
| If the job is | You need | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Spalling patches, crack injection, sealant or coatings on an otherwise sound façade | A concrete repair contractor or rope-access repair crew can be enough | Small, localised repairs, as long as testing comes before patching |
| Concrete cancer across many balconies or elevations | A remediation contractor who investigates, engineers the repair and documents each location | Corrosion is usually more widespread than the visible damage |
| Combustible cladding, a building notice or order, or a BPC Rectification Order | A registered commercial builder that carries design and construct responsibility | The work needs a compliance pathway, a fire engineer, a building surveyor and a full audit trail |
| Cleaning, painting or graffiti removal | A building maintenance company | No compliance pathway is involved |
Pro-Build Plus works in the third row, and in the second where concrete repairs sit alongside façade works.
02, The ten checks
Ten questions. Ask everyone the same ones.
Each check says why it matters and how we answer it ourselves, so you can hold us to the same standard you hold everyone else.
Is the registration current, and unlimited?
The Building and Plumbing Commission publishes every builder's registration. Check that it is current, that it is a commercial builder class, and whether a limitation applies.
Our answer: Commercial Builder Unlimited (CB-U), current. Ask us for the registration details and check them on the BPC register.
Is façade remediation their main work?
Cladding remediation sits where fire engineering, building regulation and insurance meet. A builder who does it occasionally learns on your building.
Our answer: It is the only work we do: 135 completed façade remediation projects over 12+ years, all in Victoria.
Have they done it with people in the building?
Most remediation happens on buildings that cannot empty out. Ask for named examples.
Our answer: The Melburnian (fully occupied), The Blackman Hotel (traded throughout), Melbourne Water HQ (working office), Wellington Parade (no resident displaced).
Who carries the design?
On fragmented projects, compliance issues hide at the interfaces: panel to slab edge, membrane to window, design intent to installed reality.
Our answer: We carry design and construct responsibility: fire engineer and fixing design coordinated, shop drawings prepared, compliance pathway agreed with your building surveyor.
Will they tell you if you need less?
A Performance Solution can retain the compliant parts of a façade. A contractor who only sells replacement has no reason to look.
Our answer: We develop Performance Solutions with qualified fire engineers, and we say so when full replacement is the cleaner path.
How will they prove what is on the wall?
A drive-by survey is not an audit. Core materials cannot be identified from the street.
Our answer: Invasive sampling at representative locations, laboratory identification and a panel-by-panel materials register. How our audits work.
What will you hold at the end?
A warranty is only as useful as the documentation behind it. The deliverables belong in the contract.
Our answer: Building surveyor certification, panel-by-panel QA records, as-built documentation, the disposal record, manufacturer warranties and our workmanship warranty.
How will the building keep running?
Ask for the access, egress and resident communication plan before you see a program.
Our answer: Staged by floor and elevation. At The Melburnian: lobby screens, revised routes, temporary wayfinding and a dedicated ambulance access arrangement.
Can you speak to past clients?
References from comparable buildings tell you more than a brochure can.
Our answer: Yes. We arrange direct references with comparable clients: an owners corporation speaks to an owners corporation, a facilities manager to a facilities manager.
Is the price built on evidence?
A firm price before anyone has opened the wall is a guess with a number on it.
Our answer: We price from the audit, staged so your committee can approve each step, with progress claims tied to completed, inspected work.
03, Red flags
Six answers that should end the conversation.
- A firm price before anyone has opened the wall.
- "It looks fine" without sampling or laboratory evidence.
- No named projects in occupied buildings.
- Nobody can tell you who will certify the work.
- Documentation that is not listed in the contract.
- No registration number anywhere on the quote.
And one check that has nothing to do with us: ask every contractor for current certificates of currency for each insurance policy your contract requires, and check the dates before you sign.
04, Check a registration
How to check a builder in Victoria, in four steps.
Open the BPC register
Go to the Building and Plumbing Commission's Find a Practitioner search.
bpc.vic.gov.auSearch the name or number
Search by practitioner name, business name or registration number.
SearchRead the class and status
Check the status is current and the class covers the work: commercial or domestic, limited or unlimited.
ClassCheck the disciplinary register
The BPC also publishes a prosecution and disciplinary register. Check it before you sign.
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