Respond to a client complaint about the balcony remediation works

What is going on

An owner at the Peninsula Strata balcony remediation project in Frankston has lodged a written complaint through the strata manager. The owner says grinding dust entered their apartment, that work started before 7:00 am on two days and that a pot plant on the balcony was damaged. The strata manager wants a formal written response within ten days and has hinted at withholding the next progress claim. The site diary shows an environmental hazard report for dust on 4 September and a corrective action that was closed. The site supervisor says the crew arrived early but did not start noisy work before 7:00 am. The General Manager will sign the response and wants it factual, fair and consistent with the contract.

Your brief

Log the complaint, gather the site records, establish what happened, draft a factual response for the General Manager that addresses each point, offers a remedy where Keystone is at fault and protects the progress claim under the contract procedure.

Work through it

You do not need to do it all. Doing a few of these will show you what the work is like. Your ticks and notes stay on this device.

• Read the Quality Management Policy and the Contract Variation and Progress Claim Procedure and identify how complaints, disputes and claims must be handled and in what timeframes.
• Log the complaint in the WHS register as an environmental event linked to the existing dust hazard record, and note the ten-day response deadline.
• Review the site diary entries for the Frankston project for the dates in the complaint and extract the start times, work done and any visitor or resident contact recorded.
• Speak with Jack Whitlam and the crew and record their account of the early arrivals, the dust screening and the pot plant, separating what is known from what is assumed.
• Assess each point of the complaint against the records and the contract, decide where Keystone is at fault, and propose a remedy that is proportionate.
• Draft the written response for Marcus Delahunty's signature, addressing each point, stating the corrective actions already taken and the remedy offered, without admitting matters the records do not support.
• Prepare a note for Leila Haddad on the progress claim, explaining why the complaint does not entitle the client to withhold payment and what supporting records the claim will include.

What someone in this role would produce

• Complaint log entry in the register
• Summary of evidence from the site diary and interviews
• Draft response letter for the General Manager
• Progress claim note for the Estimating and Contracts Manager