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thestratacommittee.com take a look at the changing face of residential strata maintenance and where it is headed.  

A number of strata management companies have dipped their toes into the water of strata maintenance only to be met with a frosty reception from their clients and some companies have flourished building a reputation as all in one Strata managers, Building Managers and non structural maintenance leaders.

This is difficult to achieve as the competition in the current climate is enormous with a new handyman maintenance company seemingly popping up weekly vying for the work.

Let’s examine the offering and services of all in one strata management, building management and strata maintenance and look at why thestratacommittee.com thinks this is the way the industry is heading over the next few years.

As editor of thestratacommittee.com, I am also a (q) licenced contractor able to perform minor non-structural maintenance in residential strata buildings and feel I am qualified to address this subject.

Firstly, we will address the elephant in the room that is “conflict of interest”.

Owners corporations are pretty quick to “call conflict of interest” for a strata companies maintenance team quoting to undertake non structural minor maintenance within their buildings yet I have witnessed building management companies who influence strata committees to award jobs to contractors in which they have built friendships with outside of the rules of fair play, over and over.

The fact is it is very difficult to see where the conflict of interest actually is, if an all in one company are offering clients extraordinary service across all aspects of their business including maintenance and the client is happy with the service. As long as the owners corporation have free will to engage a third party contractor to perform works at any time without being locked into a maintenance agreement. 

Looking at the North American system, all in one companies dominate the residential community living industry and it is viable to say that this is likely the way forward in Australia.

Thestratacommittee.com predicts that within 10 years most Strata companies will be an all in one company, with quick turn around for minor maintenance rectifications for their clients and building management, in house.  

The chain of events just makes sense from building manager reporting a break down triggering an in house work order resulting in automated workflows to quickly manage the minor maintenance.

Again, fair play is everything and overcharging a client for any business usually results in a change of contractor. For strata companies that are all in one service, this can be devastating for the bottom line. I also believe that there is enough work out there for everyone and having two of every contractor and sharing the love to keep everyone competitive is always a preference. It’s hard to argue that some strata companies are managing the three in one service extremely well. 

Thestratacommittee.com applauds companies that take charge and demonstrate leadership