Independent research from across the sector — including government-commissioned studies, national surveys of strata committees, and industry benchmarking reports — keeps arriving at the same conclusion. Strata committees are volunteers with limited knowledge, managing buildings worth millions, while dealing with commercially sophisticated management firms. The contracts, fee structures, and delegation arrangements those firms use are often designed to favour the agent, not the owner.
The research points to the same problems repeatedly:
- Fee structures that are hard to understand, with hidden or self-authorised additional charges.
- Commissions and conflicts of interest that reward managers for decisions that don't put owners first.
- Management agreements written by the agent, presented as non-negotiable, in language committees can't interpret.
- Agreements that make it costly and difficult to leave an underperforming manager.
- Confusion about what authority has been delegated to the manager.
- Managers who lack the specialist knowledge to advise confidently on legislation, compliance, or major works.
- Service that suffers because managers are spread too thin across too many buildings.
- Committee members who are overwhelmed, untrained, and left to work it out on their own.
One survey of 745 NSW strata committee members found that 70% had limited or no confidence in their own legal knowledge — despite carrying responsibility for buildings worth millions of dollars. That gap between responsibility and support is the problem The Strata Professionals Group was built to close.
How The Strata Professionals Group Was Built to Answer It
Every part of my franchised strata management network, The Strata Professionals Group has been designed as a direct response to a problem the research identifies.
A Management Agreement Built for Fairness
Our management agreement was developed in direct response to countless discussions with strata owners and committee members about unfair contracts presented to them on a take it or leave it basis. There's no lock-in term — either side can walk away on notice, without penalty. It's written in plain English, with no pre-populated delegation tables, no commissions or related-party arrangements, and mutual, uncapped liability for both sides. If the relationship ends, your records and funds come back to you within days, no exceptions.
The Balanced Strata Method™
My proprietary framework organises the work of strata management into four pillars — Governance, Compliance, Maintenance, and Finance — with one pillar in focus each quarter. Instead of ad hoc, reactive management, committees receive defined deliverables and a quarterly report against each pillar. It turns strata management from something you must have into something you can see.
A Specialist Staffing Model
No single manager can be an expert in law, compliance, construction, and finance at once — so we don't ask them to be. Each scheme has a senior strata manager as the primary point of contact, backed by head office specialists in each of the four pillars. When a matter needs specialist knowledge, it's escalated to the right person, so your manager stays focused on you and your building.
60+ Standard Operating Procedures
My documented procedures define how every task is performed, to what standard, and with what quality checks — so the service you receive doesn't depend on which individual happens to be handling your file. When staff change, the standard doesn't.
The Weekly Newsletter and Online Community
The Strata Professional newsletter, and the online community to follow, exist to lift the standard of knowledge across the industry — for committee members as much as for managers. Better-informed owners make better decisions, and better decisions make for a more professional industry.
Research-Led Thinking
My doctoral research at Oxford examines the legal frameworks that govern high-risk multi-owned buildings. That work feeds directly back into how we structure our contracts, train our staff, and design our services — not research for its own sake, but research that shapes practice.
For Strata Professionals with a Growth Mindset
The Strata Professionals Group is a national franchise network built for people who want to run their own strata management business without starting from zero. We're not looking for capital. We're looking for the right people.
Here's what joining The Strata Professionals Group looks like:
- Join by invitation, with no upfront buy-in. What we're looking for is a growth mindset and a passion for professionalism — not a cheque.
- A competitive, market-rate wage from day one, to support you through the start-up phase of your new business.
- A generous split of operating profit and capital value on exit, with genuine opportunities to expand.
- Head office specialists in governance, compliance, and maintenance, backing you and your clients — so you can focus on your clients and their buildings.
- Detailed, written operating procedures that train and guide you to deliver consistently high-grade work from day one.
- Sales and marketing support to help you grow your business.
- Mentoring sessions with me, personally. You won't be alone.
If that sounds like the kind of business you want to build, let's talk. Book a time for a confidential discussion to see if we're a fit.
I write The Strata Professional newsletter every week because building a profession requires sustained, public accountability to an idea — not a single campaign.
because the standards I write about need to exist somewhere in practice. And I'm completing a doctorate at Oxford because the evidence base this profession needs still has real gaps in it.
None of this is finished. If you want to follow where it's heading — and take part in getting it there — start here.