With a combined 50 years experience in and around the property industry, Philip Soumilas, Sam Atkins and John Richmond started Bluestone OCM in response to constant feedback that the management of Owners Corporation’s had many issues.
Building Owners and Committees said that communication and responsiveness was often poor, there was limited expertise to manage the rising complexity of building issues, problems came up that could have been prevented and pricing was unclear with hidden charges and arrangements that eroded trust.
So, the team set out to build a different Owners Corporation manager based on four principles that directly target the issues and align with the growth in size and complexity of residential and mixed use buildings in Melbourne.
Traditionally Owners Corporations are run by a single manager and that one person is often expected to have the knowledge to deal with every issue that comes up. While this was fine for many years, today there are many complicated building issues as a result of larger, more complex buildings and the rapidly changing regulatory and compliance landscape. So, we took a different, two-pronged approach.
First, we set a high standard for the people we employ as Owners Corporation Managers. Our staff are trained and qualified, and are highly regarded in the industry. Importantly, we also have a very low “buildings per manager” ratio allowing our managers to dedicate significant time to each of their buildings.
Secondly, and most importantly, we surrounded these high-quality people with the support and expertise they need to expertly manage a building. There are three key areas we have built into our business structure to support our highly experienced and skilled OC Managers:
While this two-pronged approach is more expensive for us to run, it reduces cost in the long run and results in much higher level of service and customer satisfaction because we are not only professionally dealing with issues as they arise, but we are proactively planning to handle issues before they become serious problems.
The goal here is clear: make sure owners and residents have access to building information, and that the Owners Corporation Committees understand the status of the building and key tasks being worked on. To tackle this issue of communication we decided to combine a transparent, service-oriented approach with state-of-the-art technology. This approach meant that information is available in real time. We invested in specialist task management software, Owner Portals, digital forms, online ballot systems and individual building websites to speed up communication and make us easy to work with.
Being proactive was a really strong area of feedback.
Building Owners Corporation Committee’s were desperate for a strong proactive approach to OC management that kept everyone informed, aligned and minimised future issues.
There are two keys to being proactive.
First is to be very active with the OC committee and provide guidance. Constant communication and leveraging state of the art technology is critical to keeping everyone informed and matters progressing.
The second key is our secret: We proactively develop the right processes, procedures, policies, and guidelines to manage each buildings. This means you can proactively plan ahead as well as managing issues as they arise knowing there is a clear path to resolution.
For example, we have “Complaint and Dispute Resolution” policies, which guides both informal and formal actions to be taken. We can produce and maintain a “Policies and Guidelines” document which captures an overview of the on-site management of a building, who does what and specific policies and guidelines. It covers such areas as communications, resident management, maintenance, dispute resolution, etc.
Changing the pricing model was something really important to us. Clients were asking for simple, clear upfront pricing and that’s exactly what we deliver. We have a fixed pricing structure that clearly outlines our fees and charges so you can budget with confidence and no surprises.
The final and important element of our pricing model is our independence. Because we only provide Owners Corporation Management services, we are able to maintain our independence and therefore don’t have any conflicts of interest or hidden arrangements with suppliers. Our independence means we focus on selecting the right contractor for the right job and provide the best value for money.
Whilst we understand the potential attraction of a “one stop shop” approach with a single business providing OC Management and the on-site services such as building management, based on extensive experience and consultation across the industry we are strong advocates of Owners Corporations engaging independent specialist OC Managers and other service providers. Engaging different, independent service providers:
In our many years of experience managing buildings we have found that an engaged and active community is the key to a great building culture and reputation. This is why this is a specific area of focus.
We work closely with OC Committees on initiatives to help establish a sense of community around the buildings, and on communication programmes to educate residents on rules and expectations.
So those are the four principles that have driven our business from the start. We strongly believe these principles set us apart from others and importantly drive high customer satisfaction outcomes for the buildings we manage.
Put us to the test and apply for a free building workshop to see how we can help improve your buildings operations.
