Maintenance protects property value

Deferred maintenance compounds

Small problems left alone grow. A blocked gutter overflows and saturates a wall. A cracked sealant joint lets water into a slab edge, the steel rusts and the concrete spalls. A tired paint system stops protecting the render underneath. Each of those small jobs, done on time, is cheap. Left for a few years, they become remedial projects with engineers, specifications and much bigger invoices.

Deferring maintenance doesn’t save money. It moves the cost into the future and adds interest.

First impressions are worth money

Buyers and tenants judge a building in the first thirty seconds: the entry, the lobby, the bin area, the gardens, the glass. A clean, well-kept building signals a well-run strata scheme with healthy finances. A shabby one raises questions about what else has been neglected, and those questions show up in offers and rents.

Planned vs reactive maintenance

Planned maintenance also supports the NSW requirement for strata schemes to keep a capital works fund plan: good inspection data makes the plan realistic, and regular maintenance helps the building reach the end of each component’s expected life. See NSW Government strata guidance.

• Reactive: wait for something to break, pay urgent rates, deal with angry residents and secondary damage.
• Planned: regular care and inspections catch issues early, costs are spread evenly, and big works are scheduled rather than forced.

A simple maintenance calendar

• Weekly: bins, common-area cleaning, outdoor areas
• Monthly: walk-through, lights, minor repairs, gardens
• Quarterly: glass, pressure washing, gutter checks before storms
• Yearly: facade inspection, roof and anchor inspection, sealant checks, condition report
• Every several years: repainting, sealant renewal, membrane checks, as set in the capital works plan

Don’t let access costs delay the work

One reason owners corporations put off facade maintenance is the cost and disruption of scaffold. Rope access removes most of that barrier: inspections, cleaning, sealing, painting and repairs can be done without months of scaffold, so maintenance happens when it should. Why some buildings shouldn’t have scaffold