Short answer
A waterproofing maintenance agreement replaces reactive leak tickets with scheduled inspections of roofs, basements, car parks, tanks and plant rooms. Its core is a numbered leak register, updated at every visit, with photographs and a status for each leak point. Pricing usually combines a fixed annual fee for the inspections and reports with repairs at rates agreed in advance. The main inspection should take place before the November–March rains.
In most managed buildings, leaks are handled one ticket at a time. A resident reports a stain, someone patches it, the ticket closes. Next rainy season the same ticket opens again. A planned waterproofing maintenance agreement replaces that cycle with a schedule and a record.
Why does reactive leak repair cost more?
- Repeat visits to the same leak. Patching the point where water shows rarely seals the crack or joint behind it.
- Damage spreads. Ceilings, finishes, equipment in pump rooms and plant rooms, and the reinforcing steel in car-park slabs all deteriorate while a leak waits for its turn.
- Work lands in the rainy season. Leaks are reported during the storms, when every contractor is busy and the structure is wet.
- No history. Each new contractor starts from zero, and nobody can say whether a leak is new or the same one repaired last year.
What should the agreement cover?
| Area | What is inspected | When |
|---|---|---|
| Roofs and podium decks | Drains and gullies, membrane or coating condition, upstands, parapets and joints | Before the rainy season (October–November) |
| Basements and car parks | Construction joints, slab and wall cracks, pipe sleeves, ramps, sump and lift pits | Yearly, and after heavy rain |
| Water tanks | Internal cracks and joints, lining condition, pipe entries, the dividing wall | When drained for scheduled cleaning |
| Plant rooms and wet areas | Pump-room and plant-room floors, floor drains, wet-area leaks into the floor below | Yearly |
The pre-season inspection matters most. Most of Abu Dhabi's rain falls in a few heavy storms between November and March, and October is the last comfortable window to clear drains and seal joints. The rainy season leak checklist lists the basic checks a maintenance team can do itself.
Why is the leak register the core of the agreement?
Every leak point gets a number, a position on the building layout, photographs and a status: active, damp, sealed or under monitoring. Every visit updates the same register. After a season or two it shows which areas are getting worse, which repairs have held, and where a larger repair should go into next year's budget, so it is planned rather than discovered in a storm.
The register also makes reports useful to the people who approve the spending. A board or an owner can see the number of open leaks fall over time, with the evidence behind each one.
How are maintenance agreements usually priced?
A common structure has two parts:
- A fixed fee per building per year for the scheduled inspections, the updated register and the reports.
- A schedule of rates agreed in advance for repairs, for example per linear metre of crack or joint injected, per pipe sleeve sealed, or per square metre of coating, so each repair can be ordered without a separate tender.
The fee depends on the size of the building, the number of basement levels, tanks and roof areas, and how often each is inspected, which is why it is set per building rather than published as a single price. Ask any contractor how call-outs between scheduled visits are handled and charged.
What should you ask before signing?
- Who inspects? An engineer who can diagnose the cause, or a technician who reports what is visible?
- What does a report look like? Ask for a sample with the leak register, photographs and the marked-up layout.
- How quickly do they reply? We reply to enquiries within 2 hours during business hours, and agree site attendance with you based on access and urgency.
- Are method statements and data sheets submitted with the contract? Repairs under the agreement should not wait for paperwork. See what consultants check in a method statement.
- What is warranted? The warranty on each repair, in writing, and what it covers.
- What is excluded? Structural concrete repair, plumbing and drainage faults usually sit outside a waterproofing agreement, and the agreement should say so.
For how a planned maintenance agreement works with Dot Expert, see leak repair for managed buildings.
Dot Expert is a X-Calibur Construction Chemistry registered applicator — our engineer and injection technicians have completed the manufacturer's site application training. View the certificate