Keith Reay (Chairperson)

/in /by

By way of background, completed in 1996, Herbert Towers is a single strata plan comprising of 156
residential units split across two separate buildings, with shared facilities including gym, pool, spa,
sauna, visitor parking, rented reserved parking.

In terms of central infrastructure we have CO2 monitoring, 4 lifts (13 floor stops), MDF, Fire
Systems, Security access systems, Booster Pumps, Heating/Boilers, gardens and BBQ facilities
amongst other common property which comes under the responsibility of the Building Manager.
The Building Manager is also responsible for the daily monitoring of work carried out by the 3rd
party outsourced cleaning team.

TFM has provided Building Management services to Herbert Towers since 2016.

When TFM first came onboard at Herbert Towers, it was on the basis of providing us with a Part Time on‐site Building Manager and 24/7 emergency out of hours support. The contract with TFM was expanded into a Full Time on‐site Building Manager role as we could see the benefit TFM brought to the management of our building and their ability to work with contractors to get efficiencies in terms of timing and costs, and with residents in terms of clear timely and proactive communication.

Michael and therefore by extension TFM and the team of Building Managers are a highly professional and process driven.

TFM have implemented a comprehensive Preventative Maintenance Plan, Daily inspections, and resident reporting procedures. TFM was instrumental in the introduction of our Building Management System (Building Link), which has given us the ability to better control spend, spot trends, and maintain visibility on the maintenance issues to resolve and planned works ahead.

As a Strata Committee, we receive monthly Building Management reports, and also have access to a mobile app which gives us access to minute‐by‐minute Building Manager shift notes, visibility on all work orders including pictures, quotes, invoices, and progress updates.

Initially TFM worked with our existing contractors, to ensure continuity of service, and TFM had worked with many of those contractors in previous buildings.

Over time, TFM have made recommendations to the Strata Committee regarding alternative
contractors for our consideration where TFMs industry experience led them to believe we were not getting either best service or best value for money. The knowledge TFM is able to bring to our building in terms of potential suppliers from their experiences in other buildings around Sydney over many years has been invaluable, and it is only with TFMs help that we have been able to build a network of regular contractors who we currently feel are working in our best interest.

The relationship the Strata Committee have with TFM is a close one. We consider them an integral part of the team. They collaborate with us fully in a way that previous Building Management has not. Building Management is actively involved in Strata Committee Meetings, Projects, Major Works and the annual Budgeting process.

TFM were instrumental in assisting the building navigate the COVID lock downs in terms of
providing timely communication and monitoring of resident compliance during what was a
challenging period for all concerned. This also required the careful management of contractors and guests to the building. TFM is proactive in terms of responding to committee requests and actively monitors and deals with resident by‐law infringements.

Since TFM took over, by using effective resident communication, we have had no issues with
residents parking in visitor spaces (a common issue in strata’s), our reserved parking spaces are rented out out at +90% occupancy which brings valuable income into the SC Admin Budget, and our last AFSS inspection had 100% residential compliance for unit inspections without any revisits being required.
In addition, residents receive timely communication on potential noise disruptions in relation to renovations and building works, and scheduled works such as pest control etc via both email, emergency text message broadcast and lobby display screens.

I hope the information above gives you a ‘flavour’ of what it is like having TFM as Building
Managers, and I am happy to answer any further questions you may have.

Richard Hamilton – SP51339 Herbert Towers, St Leonards

/in , /by

In early 2016 Michael Baird and Transparent FM were recommend to us, whilst we were considering options at Herbert Towers to change building management companies. In the end we met with five different companies (and spoke to many more) but it was obvious from the start that Michael was not only the most knowledgeable but also the most passionate of all the people we met with.

A couple of months later the Strata Committee agreed unanimously to recommend TFM to our Owners Corporation as our new Building Management company, and an EGM was held soon after to confirm this. Michael also assisted us at this time to find a replacement cleaning company (he does not himself offer this service), who we have been very happy with.

Our complex was built just over 20 years ago and comprises 156 apartments in two towers, as well as pool, gym, spa and garden areas. Michael suggested one of his onsite building managers to work at our complex, four to five hours a day, five days a week, plus himself personally on call for emergencies outside of this time, as appropriate for our complex. We took this advice and have since had an excellent onsite building manager, who has a deep understanding of our complex and a friendly relationship with our residents. In the first few month of TFM taking over, the workload was significantly higher than the expected 20 to 25 hours a week, largely due to the state the previous building manager had left the complex in, but Michael and his team preserved, working well beyond the agreed hours and got the complex turned around, without asking for extra money.

One of the keys to Michael and Transparent FMs success is the focus they have on putting good systems and processes in place from day one. We immediately implemented a cloud based residential building management system recommended by TFM, which now tracks all issues, work orders, resident details etc. This allows residents to easily request access to facilities or resources, as well as being able to report any issues in their apartment in a clearly defined manner, and then track the progress to resolution.

Michael and his staff were able to introduce us to a variety of specialist contractors in areas such as plumbing, ventilation, tiling, lighting, security and access control, construction, pumps, maintenance, cleaning etc that they are using in their other buildings. After being initially apprehensive in some cases, we have since found that each one of them put forward was far superior to the incumbent we had prior to TFM starting with us.

I can confidently say that we are saving at least 25% on works such as plumbing, electrical, ventilation etc vs the previous contractors, on the same type of works, and more importantly the quality of the work is substantially better. All faults reported by residents are normally checked by our onsite building manager, prior to any work order being issued. Much of the work done on site is supervised by the building manager, and then checked after to verify that it is completed neatly and professionally. These types of checks ensure that unnecessary work is not being done, and if the work is not done to expectations, it can be rectified quickly.

As well as the onsite building manager, Michael provides phone and email after hours emergency support to our residents. As a Strata Committee member I have been able to contact him and talk with him at length to get advice on not just building works etc but also resident issues. While our onsite building manager is a knowledgeable professional building manger, when she is unsure of something she has Michael and his depth of knowledge to back her up. Michael’s passion and dedication rubs off on all his staff and it is not uncommon for me to receive an email or a phone call outside of hours or on Sunday from our onsite building manager as she has an idea or suggestion for improvement that she wants to discuss.

The passion and knowledge exhibited by Michael and his team has been complimented by numerous residents who have told myself and other committee members how happy they are that TFM now looks after Herbert Towers.

I am very happy to recommend Michael and Transparent FM to other complexes looking for building management services.