Governance

Do We Need a Building Manager? A Practical Test for Strata Committees

An active committee in a simple, mostly owner-occupied building may not need a building manager. This guide helps you test the workload, risks and alternatives before deciding.

24 August 2026 · 11 min read

On this pageThe short answer

The short answer

Many small, simple and mostly owner-occupied schemes can run well without a building manager.
An active committee helps, but enthusiasm is only useful when every recurring job has a named person, a backup and a record.
Few or no tenants reduces moves, fob changes and resident turnover. It does not reduce the building's fire, lift, pump, roof, insurance or common-property obligations.
Asset complexity and the need for someone on site matter more than lot count.
A committee can buy cleaning, gardening, inspections, maintenance and emergency response separately instead of wrapping every job into one management contract.

A 12-lot walk-up with no lift, no pool, a weekly cleaner and four owners who attend every committee meeting may have little ongoing work for a building manager. Paying contractors directly can make more sense.

A larger building with lifts, basement pumps, electronic access, a fire panel, shared hot water and regular moves creates work on site every week. A willing volunteer can take some of it on. The workload still exists when that volunteer is away.

List the work, assign it, and test whether the arrangement survives a holiday, a burst pipe and a change of committee. That will give you a better answer than copying the building next door.

Three different jobs get called management

These jobs are often blurred in committee discussions.

Role	Main job	Usually outside the role
Building manager, caretaker or facilities manager	Physical operation of common property: inspections, access, keys, contractor attendance, cleaning oversight, minor maintenance and incident response under the contract	Setting levies, making by-laws or deciding scheme policy
Strata, owners corporation or body corporate manager	Meetings, levies, accounts, records, insurance and other functions in the management agreement or written delegation	Daily site attendance unless the contract includes it
Rental property manager	The lease, rent, inspections and tenant issues for one lot owner	Running the owners corporation or maintaining common property

Your building may need administrative help and still have no reason to employ an onsite building manager. It may also have an excellent strata manager while nobody checks the basement after heavy rain. Decide on each job separately.

Is a building manager compulsory?

An onsite building manager or caretaker is not generally compulsory under Australian strata legislation. The owners corporation, body corporate, strata company or corporation keeps the underlying legal duties. It can pay other people to do the work, but it cannot hand away its responsibility simply by signing a management contract.

New South Wales

NSW Government guidance says a strata manager, building manager or both can be hired to help run a scheme. It describes building managers as people who look after common property, arrange or perform minor repairs, manage access and help with safety. Section 66 of the current NSW Act excludes a person doing that work only voluntarily, casually or as a strata committee member. An active committee can therefore coordinate common-property work without appointing itself as the building manager. A formal appointment requires a written agreement authorised at a general meeting. NSW Government, "Who's who in strata"; Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, ss 66 to 68.

Queensland

Queensland law separates a body corporate manager from a service contractor. A statutory caretaking service contractor is a service contractor who is also the authorised letting agent, or is associated with one. A fully owner-occupied scheme with no letting function may need separate cleaning, garden, pool, access or maintenance contracts instead. Small Schemes and Specified Two-lot Schemes cannot use the statutory caretaker structure, although they can engage ordinary service contractors. Queensland Government, "Role of a service contractor and letting agent", updated 1 April 2026; Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997, ss 94, 100 and 118 to 121.

Victoria

Victoria uses "owners corporation manager" for a role that often covers administration as well as maintenance coordination. Consumer Affairs Victoria says an owners corporation may appoint a paid or volunteer manager and that some owners corporations self-manage through a committee or lot owner. A tier one owners corporation, which generally has more than 100 occupiable lots, must appoint an owners corporation manager unless it opts out by special resolution. That rule does not automatically require an onsite building manager. Consumer Affairs Victoria, "Working with your owners corporation manager"; Consumer Affairs Victoria, "Tiers of owners corporations"; Owners Corporations Act 2006, ss 7 and 119.

Western Australia

In Western Australia, the strata company controls and manages the common property. Its council normally carries out those functions. A strata manager can perform only the functions the strata company authorises, so the Act does not force a scheme to employ a dedicated onsite manager. Strata Titles Act 1985, ss 91, 135, 137, 143 and 146.

South Australia

South Australia has separate laws for strata corporations and community corporations, so first check which title applies. Under the Strata Titles Act 1988, the corporation can delegate ordinary administrative functions to a manager, but it keeps concurrent power and can revoke the delegation. A manager is an option, not a substitute for the corporation itself. Strata Titles Act 1988, ss 25 and 27A to 27C; Community Titles Act 1996.

Tasmania

In Tasmania, the body corporate can delegate administration, management and common-property functions to a strata manager. The manager remains subject to directions from the body corporate, while the committee can exercise the body corporate's day-to-day powers within the limits of the Act. A separate onsite role is not mandatory. Strata Titles Act 1998, ss 79 to 82.

Australian Capital Territory

In the ACT, including Canberra, the executive committee exercises the owners corporation's functions and supervises any manager. A manager has only the functions set out in the contract or a written delegation, and the owners corporation or committee can still exercise a delegated function. Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011, ss 35, 36 and 52.

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory has two unit-title regimes, so check whether the scheme falls under the Unit Title Schemes Act 2009 or the older Unit Titles Act 1975. Under the 2009 Act, the body corporate can delegate functions in writing to a manager, committee, committee member or unit owner. It also treats a body corporate manager and a caretaking service contractor as different roles. Unit Title Schemes Act 2009, ss 30, 34, 74 to 77 and 87 to 92; Unit Titles Act 1975.

Check the building itself

A building-specific order, development condition or safety requirement may still require particular inspections, services or responsible people. Check those obligations separately. A lift contractor, fire-safety practitioner or pool inspector does not become a building manager merely because their work is compulsory.

Start with the work

Write down what the building manager would do in your building. Job titles hide empty contracts and unpaid committee work. A task list makes both visible.

Work	Committee-run alternative	Evidence that it happened
Inspect common areas and report faults	A rostered committee member or scheduled independent inspection	Dated checklist, photos and open issue list
Track recurring servicing	A shared calendar with a primary and backup owner	Service report, invoice and next due date
Give contractors site access	A nominated owner, lockbox or access process	Attendance record and completed work report
Supervise cleaners and gardeners	A written scope and periodic committee check	Checklist, issue photos and contract review date
Control keys, fobs and remotes	A committee custodian with a second authorised person	Issue, return and cancellation register
Respond after hours	A rotating contact with spending authority and approved contractors	Incident log, invoice and follow-up action
Manage quotes and minor work	A committee member working within a written approval limit	Quotes, resolution, work order and invoice
Keep the building history	A shared system owned by the scheme	Asset, contractor, decision and maintenance records

If the committee can fill every row without relying on one person's memory or private inbox, committee-run operations may be a sensible choice.

When an active committee can handle it

Committee-run building operations tend to work when the property and the people are both stable.

The building is simple

There may be no lift, shared mechanical ventilation, pool, gym, commercial tenancy, embedded network, large basement or complicated access-control system. Cleaning, gardening, pest control and basic repairs can be bought under clear contracts.

The workload is shared

At least two people can handle the operational work, and another person can find the records and contractor contacts if both are unavailable. One highly committed chair does not provide continuity.

Site access works

Contractors can attend during agreed hours without a committee member repeatedly leaving work. Plant rooms and service cupboards have controlled keys, and the access process does not depend on one person being home.

Maintenance is planned

The building has an asset list, recurring service dates, an emergency contact sheet and a current capital works or maintenance plan. Low maintenance should mean the building has few assets and a short task list. It should not mean nobody has inspected the roof or pump for three years.

Someone checks the contractors

Someone checks whether the cleaner, gardener and repair contractor did the contracted work. Someone can compare a quote with the approved scope and close the item when the invoice arrives.

What few or no tenants changes

A mostly owner-occupied building usually has fewer move bookings, lift protections, fob changes, rental-agent emails and repeated explanations of the by-laws. Problems are often reported earlier because the people approving the repair also live with it.

The building still ages at the same rate. Pumps seize, membranes leak, fire equipment reaches its service date and keys go missing. Owners travel, sell and stop volunteering. A committee-run model needs a handover process even when the current group expects to stay for years.

Resident mix is one input. The stronger test is how often somebody must attend the site, make a call, meet a contractor or update a record.

Signs the building has outgrown committee-only operations

Consider paid building-management help when several of these are happening:

residents find faults only after damage has spread;
service dates or statutory inspections are being missed;
contractors regularly need access and no owner is available;
the same committee member handles every call, key and emergency;
nobody knows which contractor last worked on an asset or what they did;
quotes are approved but the work is not followed through;
the building has a large defect program, major works project or persistent water problem;
lifts, pumps, gates, fire systems, central plant or shared amenities create weekly site work;
after-hours failures have no agreed contact or spending authority; or
committee meetings are being consumed by cleaning, access and minor maintenance reports.

A capable committee can perform the work and still decide its time is better spent on budgets, capital works and owner decisions.

Choose the smallest model that covers the work

The work and agreement determine the legal category, regardless of the job title. In NSW, a contractor asked to manage or control the use, maintenance or repair of common property may fall within the building-manager rules even if the proposal calls them a coordinator. Victoria can treat a paid person performing the statutory owners-corporation-manager role as a registered manager. Queensland classification depends on the services, contract and any letting relationship. Get advice before using a narrow title for a broad management job.

Committee-run

Owners allocate the site tasks, contract specialists directly and keep the operating record. This suits simple buildings with reliable volunteers and a backup for every important job.

Committee-run with scheduled site help

An independent contractor performs a regular walk-through, meets trades or maintains the asset and service register. Cleaning, gardening, fire, lift and other specialists remain separate contracts. This can cover the weak point without buying a broad management agreement.

Part-time building management

The manager attends for agreed hours or days and handles a defined list such as inspections, contractor access, keys and maintenance follow-up. The committee and strata manager keep the governance and administrative work.

Full onsite building management

Daily attendance can make sense where the building has complex plant, frequent moves, shared amenities, concierge expectations, defects or enough contractor traffic to create a real site job.

Write the scope before asking for proposals. If the tender starts with "we need a building manager", each supplier will define the job around the service they sell.

Run the decision over a full quarter

Track every building-operations task for one quarter. Record who did it, how long it took, whether site attendance was needed, what evidence was retained and what would have happened if the responsible person had been unavailable. Add the annual tasks that did not fall in that quarter, including insurance renewal, fire statements, budget work and major servicing.

Then compare the real workload with the available models. Include volunteer time and missed work, not only invoices. Committee time is unpaid, but it is not free when one person is taking calls during work or cancelling weekends to meet trades.

If the building already has a building manager, do not stop at "we could do this ourselves". Read the agreement, expiry date, notice requirements and termination process. In NSW, appointing and terminating a building manager involves a general-meeting decision. Queensland caretaking and letting arrangements can carry separate statutory and contractual rights. Get legal advice before treating an existing long-term agreement as an ordinary supplier contract.

If the answer is no, write the operating plan

Record the decision and attach a one-page plan that names:

each recurring task and due date;
the primary person and backup;
approved contractors and after-hours numbers;
keys, fobs, plant-room access and system credentials;
spending and emergency authority;
where reports, warranties, invoices and photos are stored; and
when the committee will review the arrangement.

Keep licensed and specialist work with qualified contractors. Committee-run operations means coordinating the work. It does not turn volunteers into electricians, fire-safety practitioners, lift technicians or plumbers.

Review the plan when the building adds new plant or amenities, starts major work, experiences repeated failures, or loses the people doing the work. A decision that suited the building three years ago may no longer fit.

How UnitBuddy fits

A committee without a building manager needs a shared operating record. UnitBuddy keeps assets, service dates, reports, warranties, contractor history, spend and committee decisions with the building. The next committee can see what is due and who last attended without opening a former chair's inbox.

The software does not inspect the basement or answer an emergency call. The operating plan still needs named people and contractors.

Official sources

Keep the scheme file in one place the committee and the manager can both open. Features, pricing, or book a tour.