Hello All,
A big thank you to everyone that has made a donation to Common Ground’s Movember campaign so far– helping to raise money for men’s health.
With just over half the Movember growing season over, my offsider Steve and I have been making good mogress on our mos.
Please check out the Common Ground Movember page to see how our mos look or to make a donation to this great cause.
The creative use of common areas in body corporate complexes can be one way to build a greater sense of community amongst residents.
Common Ground Property Services recently had the pleasure to be involved in replacing an ornamental garden bed with a herb garden at a body corporate property in Brisbane.
In addition to the health benefits of having access to fresh herbs, the garden has also given residents a greater chance to interact with their neighbours as they collect ingredients for their dinner. Residents have added their own personal touches to the garden, such as planting out their own herbs and making their own plant labels. It has also been a relatively low-maintenance project due to the fact that Common Ground irrigated and mulched the garden.
For any body corporates considering putting in a herb garden, please see the following points for some guidelines you may like to consider.
1. Build a base – select good hardy herbs that are unlikely to fail such as rosemary, parsley, basil and oregano. Also be sure to choose herbs that will suit your region and the location of the garden bed (ie, full sun or part shade).
2. What’s popular? – ask residents what they are likely to use in their meals. People are less likely to take an active interest in a herb garden if it is full of herbs they don’t like or have never seen before.
3. Yield is important – make a small space work hard for you by choosing high yielding plants to complement the key herbs. Examples of high yielding hardy plants are garlic chives, chilli, pak choi and cherry tomatoes.
4. Variety is the spice of life – select a variety of different leaf shapes, flavours, colours and sizes. Not only will this improve the appearance of your herb garden, but interplanting different herbs may also help to confuse insect pests that are keen to dine out on your plants.
I would strongly recommend all body corporate complexes consider setting up a small low-maintenance herb garden. It is good for everyone’s health and is a fun and easy way to bring residents together.
Consider the example of an electrician that completes work in common areas for body corporate clients. If the electrician leaves the job site cleaner than it was when he or she arrived, they are likely to reduce potential complaints.
However, nice touches such as a thoroughly cleaning the job site do not represent the core experience that a body corporate customer receives when dealing with an electrical contractor. The electrician is unlikely to set themselves apart from competitors unless the experience they offer also includes friendly and knowledgeable technicians, competitive rates, timely response times and relevant advice.
Regardless of the product or service being provided, a solid and consistent core experience that is supported by little extras (that are valued by the client) provides substance to a brand and helps retain customers.
In my opinion body corporates are just looking for a safe pair of hands, not slick branding and big promises. Committee members are, after all, volunteers and they generally don’t like spending their spare time fighting body corporate fires. Committees need reliable service providers that can be trusted to take care of their duties efficiently and economically.
Although all the above seems like common sense, it may not necessarily be common practice amongst suppliers to the body corporate world.
The ‘perfect experience’ for a body corporate committee may not need to include all the ‘bells and whistles’. Perhaps a supplier simply needs to show up and deliver a predictable result each visit to retain clients and be recommended to new ones.
Common Ground have recently taken over the common area cleaning responsibilities at an 18-unit body corporate complex in Sandgate.
The common area cleaning work was previously being completed by one of the residents, and needless to say, they are very happy to have passed it on to us as they can now enjoy their weekends again.
Given that Common Ground are based in Sandgate, it has been a real luxury to be looking after a property that is so close to home. The complex is situated close to Einbumpin Lagoon, which also gives our staff a great place to break for lunch each week.
Common Ground Property Services specialise in providing common area cleaning, gardening and maintenance services to strata unit complexes.
Contact Us today to discuss your body corporate committee’s needs.
Clients often ask me if I know of a good body corporate management company.
Obviously I am more likely to recommend companies that my other body corporate committees speak highly of. However, being a supplier also gives me a different perspective on how these management companies operate.
For example, the management companies that promptly pay my invoices really standout! While this may sound like a relatively small point, it is one indicator of a company that has good processes in place.
Combine good systems with committed and well-trained body corporate managers, and you are on a real winner. Good systems mean that account managers are more likely to be able to provide timely support to their clients. Given the fact that community title regulations change frequently, having a highly responsive body corporate manager is very important, particularly around AGM time.
Making the time to visit clients’ properties is another mark of a great body corporate manager. Being familiar with a property’s layout and issues, helps the manager provide vastly superior advice and support to the body corporate committee.
In a nut shell, if your management company has good people and systems, your body corporate clients will notice (and will no doubt be singing your praises). Your suppliers will also notice and you may even get the odd referral from the contractors that you look after so well…
One of the many curious personality types I come across working in the body corporate industry is the guerrilla gardener.
Most residents of community title schemes are content to have courtyards or balconies for their gardening activities, or perhaps they join a local community garden project such as City Farm in Brisbane. Guerrilla gardeners on the other hand move their gardening activities into common areas, often to the dismay of their body corporate committee.
I have witnessed a range of guerrilla gardening handiwork in common areas, from establishing compost heaps to hard pruning shrubs, and dangerous activities such as climbing palm trees to remove fronds (clearly something that would not be covered by the body corporate’s public liability insurance in the event of a fall). I have even seen extreme cases of unit owners actually extending their own entertaining patios into common property and claiming it as their own exclusive use area.
It is up to the committee to have all residents adhere to body corporate by-laws, without entering into legal battles over small matters. One possible solution may be to direct the guerilla gardener’s energy into projects approved by the committee or giving them a small space of their own to work in.
As with all things body corporate, clear and frequent communication is the key to working on resolving differences of opinion before things get out of hand. Having said this, the guerrilla gardener is, by nature, keen to shake up the system so containing them may not be an option…
At the end of the day, harnessing (or curbing) these individuals’ enthusiasm is just another of the many challenges facing the body corporate committee.
Common Ground Property Services have just taken over the common area cleaning, gardening and pool maintenance for a 20-unit body corporate complex in Highgate Hill.
Being able to provide a package of different services helped during the tendering process, as the client could see the benefit in only needing to deal with one contractor (and a monthly single invoice).
Taking on this client in Highgate Hill has helped with Common Ground’s expansion south of the river, with new clients in Coorparoo also signing on with us in April.
Please Contact Us today to discuss your body corporate’s common area cleaning and gardening requirements.
It’s AGM season for many body corporate committees and some will be searching for a new cleaning and gardening contractor to maintain their common areas.
Common Ground Property Services specialise in common area cleaning and gardening for body corporate complexes (residential and commercial) and provide prompt and professional quotes.
← Request your info kit via email today! info@commongroundmaintenance.com.au
“Common Ground are professional, reliable, honest and willing to provide the extras which make them stand out”. – Margaret, Auchenflower Body Corporate Committee Chairperson
Common Ground Property Services is pleased to announce that it has won the contract to look after the common area cleaning, gardening and pool maintenance for a large 35 townhouse complex in Greenslopes.
The body corporate committee were dissatisfied with the level of service being provided by their existing contractors, and were looking to replace them with one company that they could trust to take responsibility for all regular common area maintenance tasks.
In the short time since Common Ground Property Services have commenced work at the property there have been a number of changes for the better. Lawns are now neatly edged and mowed, weeds are being brought back under control, large items of rubbish (such as a bbq and building materials) and a large amount of litter have been removed from common areas, the water level in the pool is being properly maintained, and stairwells and toilets are clean and tidy.
In our experience, once tenants become aware of the greater level of care being given to the areas around their homes, they will also start to show greater respect for the complex’s common areas.
We are looking forward to helping this complex to realise its potential as a great place to live.
We have just completed our first service at a large body corporate client in Teneriffe and already the feedback has been encouraging.
“WOW!. I’m really really impressed with how much you were able to do already and just how much better it is looking! You/your team have done a fantastic job. If this is the level and quality of service consistently provided, I’m very much looking forward to a long relationship with Common Ground Property Services.”
Jesse, Body Corporate Chairman
When we visited this property to complete a site inspection, it was clear that the common areas were in need of a spruce up! The common area issues that needed to be addressed for the body corporate committee included:
– dirty door glass
– badly over grown hedges
– lots of cobwebs in the garage
– fallen palm fronds and rubbish in the garden beds and on pathways
– weeds and dead/dying plants throughout the garden beds
– a large number of blown light bulbs.
We still have a lot of things we want to achieve at this complex over the coming weeks, but it is satisfying to know that we have helped to make the common areas look much cleaner in time for the Christmas/New Year’s Eve break.