Richard Hamilton – SP51339 Herbert Towers, St Leonards
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.
