I met up again yesterday with the surveyor and Administrator and was told that they have been unable to make contact with the technical team from Quara.

I spoke at some length to them regarding our options and essentially their view is that Quara will maintain that the pool was originally grouted and the current condition is due to erosion over time and are therefore reluctant to argue that case for us.  I pointed out that that is extremely unlikely owing to the fact that all the tile spaces can clearly be seen throughout the pool and whilst I agree that grout does deteriorate over time, it doesn't disappear completely and uniformly.  They held their view that it will simply drag out to be Quara saying it was and us saying it wasn't.  

They believe the problem with the floor of the paddling area is more substantial and arguable and will push that case for us, however they highlighted that from their past experience they fully expect Quara to delay and prevaricate.  Essentially Quara knows that the ball is in their court i.e. we are under pressure to get the pool up and running as quickly as possible and the more they delay means a more likely successful outcome for them.  Both the surveyor and the administrator held the opinion that we should start work whilst they continue to press Quara for a decision.

I also pointed out that we have still not clearly identified the source of the leak but the surveyor believes it most likely that there is a problem with the light fittings based upon the fact that that is the level at which the water stopped dropping and even though some have complained at the length of time taken to establish that, that is apparently the surest way of finding a leak.  I admit to not being 100% convinced but he claims that if the soft floor is repaired/re-laid and the drain and light fittings etc. are resealed and the pool properly re-grouted, then it should be watertight.

I'm sure most of us have had the same experience with Quara and will all feel suitably outraged with their stance, I personally feel that the  Administrators are taking the easy option, but I suppose we have to respect the fact that they do have several years experience of dealing with Quara and are simply being pragmatic.  This approach does mean that Quara do and will always get away with it and although it goes very much against the grain, I feel we have no option but to instruct builders to commence repairs as soon as possible.

Owing to the unknown extent of repairs required, I will have to get the cost re-estimated by the builder I had already lined up and I will endeavour to get comparative estimates.  I will also stipulate that detailed photographs are taken during the works as evidence for the surveyor to use in our case, which he will continue to pursue on our behalf, but I believe we should bite the bullet and expect that the full cost will be funded by the community, any financial compensation we may get in the future we must look at as a bonus.

I have a presidents meeting tomorrow and I will try to get names of other reliable builders, any contrary views to my proposed action had better be posted soon.