In New Zealand? Visit quarter.nz for body corporates.
Building insurance is compulsory for a strata corporation everywhere in Australia and New Zealand, and almost every building holds a policy. Far fewer can tell you when the sum insured was last checked against a real valuation, what the excess is, or what the policy does not cover. Construction costs have moved sharply since 2020 and many policies have not moved with them. That gap is not discovered at renewal — it is discovered at the claim.
Insurance is compulsory for South Australian strata and community corporations — building insurance for replacement value and public liability cover — and because South Australia leaves more of the running of a scheme to the corporation itself, there is often nobody but the committee prompting the valuation. That makes the renewal easy to let slide, and the sum insured easy to leave on last decade's number.
Governed by the Strata Titles Act 1988 and Community Titles Act 1996, administered by Consumer and Business Services.
In South Australia the answer is frequently 'a long time ago', because nothing external prompts it.
In Quarter: Upload the policy and Quarter reads the insurer, policy number, dates, premium and broker straight off it, then puts the renewal on the calendar far enough ahead that you can go to market rather than accept a rollover.
Two to three years, resolved at a general meeting so it survives a change of committee.
In Quarter: Quotes, studies, assessments and correspondence attach to the decision that authorised them, so the file an assessor, an owner or a buyer's solicitor asks for is already assembled.
It affects the procedure for the decision.
And ask specifically about water damage and defect exclusions.
A high excess is only a saving if the corporation could actually fund it tomorrow.
In Quarter: Upload the plan you already have and Quarter reads it into a costed schedule of items, lifecycles and due years. From there it projects the fund thirty years out and tells you the annual contribution that actually funds it.
Policy, sum insured, excess and the reasoning.
In Quarter: The ownership register, financial records, insurance, contracts and documents sit in one searchable place, so a handover is an export rather than an archaeology project — and they are still there when the committee turns over.
The default in South Australia, and the reason underinsurance persists here.
Trading premium for excess only works if the money exists on the day.
Strata and community corporations differ. Confirm before you rely on it.
The premium is one of the largest single lines in most buildings' budgets, and it is the one most often accepted without a question. Two questions — is the sum insured right, and what are we actually covered for — change the answer more than shopping around does.
A renewal handled well takes an hour and saves years of exposure. Quarter is what makes that hour possible.
Certificate of currency, schedule, valuation and claims history in one place, current, and visible to owners rather than sitting in a broker's inbox.
Diarised well before the date, so the building goes to market rather than accepting a rollover three days out.
Building details, claims history, maintenance records and the valuation date, ready to hand over instead of reconstructed each year.
When it was done, when it is next due, and what the sum insured is against it.
Which policy, at what excess, on whose recommendation, minuted — so next year's committee knows why, and so does an owner who asks.
General information about South Australia, not legal or financial advice for your building. Legislation is amended and grant programmes open and close — check the current position with Consumer and Business Services or the administering body before you act on anything here.
Tell us about your building in South Australia and we will show you exactly how Quarter would run it.
