About strata & apartment exterior maintenance
Strata exterior maintenance is the recurring work on an apartment building's common property: washing the facade and balcony soffits, cleaning common and external windows, clearing gutters and roof valleys, pressure cleaning and sealing driveways, paths and bin areas, keeping gardens and lawns, removing graffiti and dumped items, cleaning glass balustrades, and the small repairs to gates, letterboxes, lights and fences. For small and mid-sized schemes without a building manager it usually falls to the strata committee or strata manager to find tradies, collect quotes and check insurance. That is the work we help with: matching each job to vetted local tradies who quote the owners corporation directly.
The buildings in these suburbs are distinctive. Art deco and inter-war blocks line Bondi, Manly and Cremorne, 1960s and 1970s walk-ups fill Dee Why, Randwick, Neutral Bay and Lane Cove, and townhouse complexes sit among the gums of St Ives and Turramurra. Beachfront buildings in Collaroy, Freshwater and Coogee take constant salt, which corrodes balustrades and stains render and glass. North Shore blocks collect leaf litter in gutters and sap on car parks. Many blocks built before 1990 have asbestos cement in eaves and soffits, which must not be pressure washed or disturbed. Access is the constant issue: steep shared driveways, tight parking, and facades three or four storeys up.
Under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 the owners corporation must keep common property in good repair, and a lot owner cannot arrange work on it alone; decisions run through the strata committee or the strata manager. Contractors should supply a certificate of currency before starting. Repairs worth more than the Home Building Act threshold need a licensed contractor, and electrical and plumbing need a licence at any value. Work at heights needs fall controls, wash water is kept clear of stormwater drains, and power tool noise is limited to set hours. We check each tradie's identity, ABN, licence where needed, insurance, local work history and conduct.
What the job usually includes
How it works
- Tell us about the buildingGive the number of storeys, the type of facade, the work you need and whether it is one-off or recurring. Say who is authorising it (committee or strata manager), how access works for the roof, lifts and car park, and whether the building predates 1990. Photos of the facade and the trouble spots help.
- We match strata-experienced tradiesYour job goes to vetted, independent tradies who do exterior work on apartment buildings in your area and hold any licence the work needs. Each has passed identity, ABN, insurance, work-history and conduct checks and can supply a certificate of currency on request.
- Written quotes to the owners corporationInterested tradies contact your nominated person and quote in writing under their own business name, addressed to the owners corporation, with scope, method, access and safety arrangements, and insurance details set out so the committee can compare. There is no obligation to proceed.
- The workA careful contractor gives residents notice about windows, balconies and parking, sets up fall protection or works from the ground with water-fed poles, protects cars and plantings, captures wash water, keeps power tools to permitted hours, treats any suspect asbestos cement as a stop point, and photographs before and after for the committee.
- After the jobThe committee or manager checks the work against the quote, receives the photos and any notes about defects found, and pays the owners corporation's invoice. Then tell us how the tradie went; feedback after each match is how tradies stay in the network.
Scope in writing, residents informed, heights done properly
Good strata contractors make the committee's life easy. They quote against a clear scope so competing quotes can be compared, state their method and access plan, attach their certificate of currency without being asked, and schedule around bin days, cleaners and residents' parking. Before a facade wash or window clean, residents get a notice to close windows, clear balconies and move cars. Heights are handled with anchor points that have been inspected, platforms or scaffold where needed, or water-fed poles used at ground level, which reach several storeys and avoid the roof altogether.
They also protect the building and the neighbours. Soft washing is used on render, paint and heritage brick rather than high pressure that drives water into joints and strips coatings. Asbestos cement eaves and soffits on older blocks are left alone and flagged. Wash water is captured or directed to the sewer, not the street drain, and detergents are chosen with that in mind. Noise stays inside permitted hours. Defects found along the way, from rusted balustrade fixings to cracked downpipes, are photographed and reported to the manager rather than patched or ignored, because the owners corporation needs to know about them for its maintenance planning.
Questions worth asking the tradie
Frequently asked questions
The owners corporation, usually through its strata committee or strata manager, because facades, external windows, roofs, common gardens and shared driveways all form part of the common property. A single lot owner cannot arrange work on common property without approval, and a tradie who starts on an owner's say-so may not be paid. Tell us who the authorised contact is when you post the job.
The tradie quotes the owners corporation directly in writing, addressed to the scheme and sent to the manager or committee contact, with scope, method, insurance and timing set out. Committees often want more than one quote for larger work, which is why several tradies may respond. The contract and the invoice are between the owners corporation and the tradie.
Typically the structure and external walls, the roof and gutters, external window frames and the glass on the outside, balcony structure and waterproofing, common gardens, paths, driveways and car parks. Balcony tiles and finishes are often the lot owner's. The strata plan and by-laws can change this, so the strata manager should confirm before work is scoped.
Beachfront and harbourside buildings often clean windows and balustrades several times a year and soft wash the facade every year or two, because salt builds up quickly. Sheltered North Shore buildings may go longer on the facade but need gutters cleared more often under trees. A recurring schedule quoted up front is usually simpler for the committee than one-off bookings.
It can be. Buildings from before 1990 may have asbestos cement in eaves, soffits, fire doors, risers and laundry linings. It is safe while undisturbed, but it must never be pressure washed, sanded or drilled, and anything beyond 10 square metres must be removed by a licensed asbestos removalist. A tradie who suspects it should stop and report it. An asbestos register for the building, if one exists, should be shared with contractors.
The NSW WHS Regulation requires controls against falls wherever one could injure someone, which covers roofs, gutters and upper-level windows. Contractors use inspected anchor points and harnesses, edge protection, mobile work platforms or scaffold, or water-fed poles operated from ground level, which commonly reach three or four storeys. Ask how the tradie plans to do the work before accepting a quote, and whether the building's anchor points have current inspection tags.
