Preparing your estate for winter storms

Infrastructure management is a key part of any communal housing development and stormwater planning forms part of this.

Jason Mansfield, owner of Mansfield Property Solutions, explains that the inclusion of water attenuation ponds – to prevent high amounts of run-off water between the roof and paved areas – has been an unwritten law among estate managers for some time. However, this isn’t the only thing that managers can do to prevent storm damage on a residential estate.

Immediate preventive steps

‘If the storm-water infrastructure becomes overwhelmed, it is important that estate managers foresee damage to paving and low-lying areas in their complex. If a paved road is on a steep slope, it is necessary to ensure that the paving is properly anchored by casting concrete beams every 10 to 15 metres to prevent it from being washed away or the paving blocks from moving,’ explains Mansfield.

Another option for a sloped landscape is to place drainage grids at the catchment points with better and deeper drainage ports to ensure that the outflow from the roof gets to the street as quickly as possible.

In comparison, if the estate is in a low-lying area, then Mansfield suggests ensuring that the drainage around the buildings is adequate. ‘We have received abnormally high rains this past summer, and the installation of subsoil drainage has been necessary for many complexes to move water away from any structure to the drains,’ he says.

Where there are large areas of flat, green lands, a very cost-effective option would be to install a perforated pipe that can be seated into a bed of gravel and buried 350–450mm below the worst areas, allowing for easy absorption.

Check your insurance policy

According to Wynand van Vuuren, a client experience partner at King Price, it is essential that both homeowners and estate managers understand exactly what they are covered for insurance-wise, and what exclusions are written into the policy. Most short-term insurance contracts will provide cover for weather-related incidents, which include things like flooding, storms, lightning and fires, but that doesn’t mean you should not still check the exclusions.

‘Don’t be fooled by policies appearing to give full comprehensive cover but excluding cover for flood damage caused by a property being built under the 50-year flood line. You should always ensure that you are insured for enough money to be able to rebuild things like your clubhouse or fitness centre from the foundations up,’ says Van Vuuren.

Ideally, your insurance policy should cover the costs of removing rubble after a storm or flood, for example, as well as having new plans drawn up. One way to do this is to calculate the rebuilding cost of your buildings per square metre and multiply this by its per metre size.

If your estate has a hotel or rental arm, then you will want to ensure that you are covered for a loss of potential income caused by possible closure due to bad weather. Susan Grobler, head of Santam Real Estate, explains that most business insurance policies now carry a loss of rent or alternative accommodation extension of cover for those units that suffer damage and are uninhabitable or unfit for their intended purpose. ‘For units that are tenanted, Santam will pay an amount equal to the rental that the unit owner was receiving immediately prior to the incident, for the period necessary for reinstatement or for the period necessary for the completion of repairs or reconstruction. For units that are owner-occupied and are found to be damaged to the extent that they are not habitable, we will pay the reasonable rent payable of equivalent accommodation for the period necessary for reinstatement or for the period necessary for the completion of repairs or reconstruction,’ she explains.

Frequently checking for and removing debris is important in reducing the chance of water overflowing.

Know your responsibilities

It is always a good idea to separate your responsibilities from those of your homeowners, as the line can often get blurry and very confusing. For example, frequently checking for and removing debris is important in reducing the chance of water overflowing, which can lead to water pushbacks and potential internal water damage, and most of the time the responsibility lies with the homeowner.

The onus for roof maintenance and the cleaning of gutters may fall on them, but as the estate management, you are responsible for keeping communal trees and shrubs trimmed to prevent branches and debris from damaging a home or blocking a drain.

The same goes for outdoor furniture and braai areas – while homeowners are responsible for ensuring that their personal ones are secured or moved undercover, it is up to the estate management to make sure that common property and areas are taken care of. This includes adding extra layers of protection during heavy rains, for instance providing sandbags and shutting off the bulk electricity supply.