Saving Corporations money!

The job of a Strata or Body Corporate Manager is to assist and advise the Management Committee in carrying out their duties in accordance with the relevant legislation.

We are here to know the Acts of Parliament that impact upon our client corporations along with the court precedents and then what has or hasn't worked at other properties in our experience.

Time and time again we are called to assist corporations which have either been self-managed and therefore working without any support or have been with management companies where they have not received the support as the manager has simply acted like an order taker for work orders or shunted the management of the corporation off to a PA.

Recently I had the privilege of visiting a Strata Corporation of 20 units where the manager paid to provide assistance had simply arranged a quotation for $17,000 and then sent this out to the management committee using a basic template and providing no insight or benefit of their experience.

One of the Management Committee members showed me the area that the work was to take place in and I noted the following:

• The works appeared necessary but not in the ballpark of the quotation

• Trip hazards within the property requiring urgent attention

• Large bitumen driveway in need of some resurfacing works in the next 5-10 years

With the items above needing to be attended to or budget planned for I was stunned to hear that the basic template email suggesting the works proceed at $17,000 had been sent when it would wipe out the corporations savings and leave the group vulnerable.

The Strata Management SA approach is to provide personalized assistance and advice along with contacts for the works that we have used for many years on similar works and would trust to attend to my house (one of the plumbers did in fact attend an issue in my kitchen this week)!

This care and attention is exactly what this corporation had been missing and I am pleased to say that the corporation has appointed Strata Management SA to assist them and we will continue to work with the committee to assist and advise them as is our role.

Our approach is not focused on the cost of works, as money will always need to be spent in maintaining the asset, but simply on providing value to our clients so that they can achieve their goals with their property.