When people move out of apartment buildings they often leave things behind.

Our staff come across the strangest things in the common areas of body corporate complexes. We have found bed frames, mattresses, bookshelves, chairs, fridges, building materials, car tyres, and the list goes on. Depending on the condition of the items, we either donate or dump them.

However, the strangest thing that we have come across recently were two goldfish that were left in a common area pond at one of our body corporate clients in New Farm. Apparently someone had moved out of the building and decided to add them to the pond. Unfortunately, the pond is treated each week with chemicals that would have killed the fish. Luckily I have a neighbour with an amazing pond full of goldfish and she agreed to give them a new home.

I wonder what surprises are awaiting our discovery this week…

I am often asked by my body corporate clients for recommendations on low maintenance plants and one of my favourites is the Desert Rose.

The Desert Rose comes in a range of different colours from vibrant pinks, elegant whites and deep reds and, when established, will flower twice a year. Although it is slow growing, it will cope in full sun in the garden or in a pot and as the name implies is very water wise.

The only downside to the Desert Rose is that, similar to the oleander, its sap can be toxic. So it is best to avoid planting it somewhere that dogs and other pets are likely to come in contact with it.

There are always items at commercial, body corporate and domestic sites that clients need to be made aware of and it is often the cleaner or gardener that is first to notice if something is amiss.

Although we don’t want to bombard our clients with phone calls and emails, clear and frequent communication is a vital building block of any client-contractor relationship. Common Ground Property Services touch base with all our clients at least once per month (and often on a weekly basis with our larger more complex properties) to seek feedback and discuss maintenance issues.

However, timeliness of reporting is also very important. For example, one of our staff recently discovered a railing on the upper level of a Hamilton apartment complex that was extremely loose. This was obviously a matter of critical importance and I advised one of the owners immediately of the problem and followed up with an email to the other owners that evening. The railing has since been repaired and the body corporate committee were very grateful that this issue was bought to their immediate attention.

We do more than just mops and mow! You can count on Common Ground Property Services to act as an extra set of eyes around your property and to always report security and maintenance issues in a timely manner.

I am always amazed that weeds manage to grow in narrow expansion joints and cracks in concrete. Even during long periods without much rain and in the face of frequent spraying with herbicide, new weeds still seem to find a way to pop up in concreted areas.

Although nobody likes weeds, they do provide one example of how it is possible to adapt to difficult conditions and find a niche for yourself.  In the case of Common Ground Property Services, our niche is common area cleaning and gardening for body corporate clients.

The body corporate market is very hard to crack, but with our skill set and experience we can make it work for us. This means that we need:

1. patience

2. to communicate clearly and frequently with our body corporate clients

3. to enjoy doing a wide variety of different tasks daily

4. to be flexible and very organised

5. to buy and maintain quality equipment.

Finding a niche for yourself can be difficult. However, if you know what you like and are good at, and have a well researched business plan, you are well on your way.

Once you’ve identified your niche you must be committed to making it work. Just like the weeds need to deal with being sprayed with herbicide, all niche markets present their own challenges that need to be overcome (or possibly turned into opportunities…).

Good luck!

There are a lot of things to love about Spring, but being swooped by protective birds is not one of them. Each year, around this time, we are under constant attack at several of our body corporate properties as we go about our cleaning and gardening work.

Magpies are well known for their swooping habits and at one property in Toowong there is a nasty magpie that likes to hover overhead and swoop us while we are mowing. However we have found that butcher birds are sneakier and more aggressive than magpies!

Despite being much smaller than magpies, butcher birds are very skilled at working in groups to terrorise passers by. They attack from numerous perches around their nests and when you are watching them they appear to feign disinterest in targeting you (until you turn your back of course). There is even one butcher bird that attacks people on the roof terrace of a four-storey body corporate complex at Clontarf that we look after.

We’ve tried a number of strategies to try and deter these birds from attacking us and the only thing that has worked consistently is wearing bright yellow wet floor signs on our heads. They look ridiculous, but there is something about the colour or shape of the signs that the butcher birds don’t seem to like.

To find out more about how to live with angry swooping birds click on the link below.

http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/environment-waste/natural-environment/wildlife/living-with-wildlife/magpies/index.htm

Common Ground Property Services has just won the contract for the common area cleaning and gardening of a complex of 27 apartments in Nundah. This is our first body corporate client in Nundah, and we hope to be given the chance to quote for more work in this rapidly growing suburb.

When asked why they chose Common Ground, the body corporate committee said that three things set us apart from the other quotes they received;

1. Common Ground’s professional proposal, which was thorough and easy to understand.

2. From first contact they found Common Ground to be responsive and easy to communicate with.

3. Common Ground were willing to take responsibility for a wide range of common area cleaning, gardening and maintenance tasks.

Common Ground Property Services specialise in common area cleaning and gardening for body corporate and commercial clients. Please Contact Us today to discuss your property’s needs.

Many apartment complexes and commercial buildings have extensive concrete areas, and it can sometimes be difficult to keep track of potential slip hazards. Additionally, some pathways, stairs and driveways may get less sun through the cooler months which can make them prone to the build up of mildew.

Common Ground Property Services are an extra pair of eyes at our clients’ properties. We let our clients know about slip hazards before someone gets hurt, and have the equipment and experience to remove them quickly.

To request a quote or get advice on removing slip hazards at your property Contact Us today.

Today was our first visit to a large complex of 40 town houses at Everton Park with extensive lawn areas.

We had great weather all day, and were able to address many of the areas of the gardens that had been previously neglected.

For example;

1)  All pathways and roads now have dead straight edges.

2)  Palm fronds and other large deadfall that had been piling up has been removed.

3)  Shrubs have been trimmed away from pathways.

4)  Weeds have been sprayed.

Surprisingly, we learned that some contractors actually declined to quote on the complex because it is so large and has a lot of sloping lawns. Luckily we like a challenge at Common Ground Property Services, and we jumped at the chance to tender for the gardening and lawn care work at this property!

Common Ground Property Services can assist with all areas of common area cleaning and gardening for body corporate and commercial clients (large or small). Please Contact Us today to discuss your property’s requirements.

Two apartment complexes, in Auchenflower and Newstead, have just signed common area cleaning and gardening agreements with Common Ground Property Services.

Both apartment buildings are premium properties built within the last seven years, and given their locations the majority of the tenants are  professional people working in the CBD. With this in mind, the body corporate committees were looking for a professional contractor that could  offer quality services at reasonable rates, while also being able to provide them with timely reporting on any maintenance issues. In both cases, Common Ground Property Services was advised that its proposal stood out from the other quotes which were obtained in terms of professionalism and pricing.

 Please Contact Us today to discuss your common area cleaning and gardening needs.

At Common Ground Property Services we go the extra mile to keep on top of garden maintenance for our body corporate and commercial clients, because we know how quickly things can get out of hand in Brisbane’s sub-topical climate!

Take for example a small apartment complex in Toowong, at which Common Ground took over the ongoing garden maintenance work last week. The gardens are not large, but were very badly neglected after the previous contractor failed to keep up with a programme of regular maintenance. Our staff have now started the job of getting the property’s gardens back up to scratch for the body corporate committee, and removed an amazing 254kg of weeds and weedy shrubs from the small garden beds at the rear  and side of the property. Unbelievably we will need to return next week to tackle the remaining garden beds, which are approximately the same size as those already cleared.

When we first saw these garden beds at Toowong in such bad disrepair it was hard to know where to start! Should we remove the weedy shrubs first, take the vines off the clotheslines and fences, or start by slashing the waist high weedy undergrowth? In the end we started with the weedy shrubs, and the improvement after a day of clearing was dramatic. Tenants stopped us to thank us for the work we were doing, and a body corporate committee member emailed to tell us how great things were starting to look. This positive feedback will spur us on to complete the clean-up, and memories of how the gardens looked when we first arrived will serve as motivation not to let things get out of control again.

 If you feel your body corporate or commercial property’s lawns and gardens could benefit from improved attention, please contact us anytime to arrange a site inspection.