Keith Reay (Chairperson)
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.
