Strata Maintenance Retainer
A monthly block of handyman hours for your common property, with an app that shows the committee what was done. Available across Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland and the Hunter.
WHY A RETAINER
The Trouble With Small Jobs
A blown foyer light. Scuffed paint in the stairwell. A pile of rubbish someone left by the bins. None of it is urgent, and none of it is worth three quotes and a call-out fee. So it waits, and the list gets longer.
Strata committees see this all the time. Minimum call-out charges, quoting rules and the admin of chasing a tradesperson mean minor items sit until residents start complaining, or until a small problem turns into a bigger repair.
Putting maintenance off doesn’t save money. It moves the cost into next year’s capital works budget and adds work health and safety risk in the meantime. The retainer fixes that by giving your building a set number of handyman hours every month, already approved and already paid for.
How the Retainer Works
One fixed monthly fee per property, set after we have looked at the building. The agreement runs for 12 months and is billed monthly in advance.
5 Hours Every Month
Handyman time set aside for your common property, used in blocks of at least one hour.
Scheduled and On Demand
Regular visits keep on top of wear and tear. Jobs logged in the app between visits get booked in.
Unused Hours Roll Over
A quiet month isn’t wasted. Unused hours carry forward for up to two months.
Covered by the Retainer
- Minor paint repairs and touch-ups
- Light bulb replacement
- Rubbish removal and mess clean-ups
- General handyman work
- Lawn and garden maintenance
- Graffiti removal
- Bin movements
Not Covered
- Work that needs a licensed trade, such as electrical or plumbing
- Major repairs, which we quote separately
- After-hours emergencies
- Work inside private lots
Materials and consumables are charged at cost, with no markup.
THE STRATA APP
Log a Job From Your Phone. See It Done.
Every retainer comes with access to our own job management app. Your strata manager or committee representative adds a job, sets the priority and attaches a photo. No phone tag, no email chains, and urgent items reach our team straight away.
Each job moves from registered to scheduled to completed, so you can check progress without ringing anyone. At the end of the month you get a report for the property showing:
- Jobs completed that month
- Hours used, hours remaining and any rollover
- Before and after photos
- Maintenance observations and recommendations for the committee
It means less follow-up for the strata manager and a clear record to table at the next committee meeting.
Retainer or Call-Outs?
How a monthly retainer compares with booking a tradesperson each time something needs doing.
| Ad-hoc call-outs | Retainer | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum call-out fees | Yes | No |
| Multiple quotes | Often required | Not required |
| Budget certainty | No | Yes |
| Admin for the committee | High | Minimal |
| Deferred maintenance | Common | Reduced |
Add Cleaning Later if You Want To
At any point during the term, the owners corporation can add common area cleaning, window cleaning or external building washes. Each is quoted separately and added by written variation, so the agreement doesn’t restart. You deal with one contractor who knows the building, and where services are bundled we report any maintenance or cleaning issues we spot to the committee.
STRATA ENQUIRY
Talk to Us About Your Building
Tell us about the property and we will call to talk it through. The fee depends on the size of the building, so we confirm it after a site review.
Once the committee says yes
- We set up a direct debit authority and collect contact and emergency details for the building.
- Your strata manager and committee get app access, with an onboarding meeting to show you how it works.
- We book an initial site review.
- Scheduled maintenance starts.
Prefer to talk now? Call 1800 227 716.