If you have just joined a strata committee, there is one confusion worth clearing up before any other: your scheme probably has both a strata manager and a building manager but they are not the same job. Knowing which one to call will save you a remarkable amount of forwarded email. The two titles sound interchangeable, and plenty of owners use them interchangeably for years, but the roles sit on opposite sides of the scheme. One runs the legal entity. The other runs the physical building.
That single sentence resolves most of the daily confusion. Levies, insurance, meetings and records belong to the strata manager, because they belong to the owners corporation as a legal body. Leaks, lifts, cleaners and contractors belong to the building manager, because they belong to the building as a physical thing. When something goes wrong, ask yourself whether the problem exists on paper or in the walls, and you will almost always dial the right number first.
Strata Manager vs Building Manager
| Building manager | Strata manager | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | The physical building | The legal entity |
| Works on | Common property, plant, contractors, defects | Levies, insurance, meetings, bylaws, records |
| Appointed under | Building Management Agreement | Strata Management Agency Agreement |
| Reports | Monthly operations report to the committee | Financials, minutes, statutory records |
| You call them when | The garage door fails, the lobby is dirty, a contractor does not show | You need a levy notice, an insurance certificate, an AGM |
Five situations, sorted
Theory is one thing, but the split makes most sense in the situations committees actually face. If water is coming through a ceiling, the building manager comes first, to make the area safe and find the source, and the strata manager follows with the insurance claim if common property is involved. If an owner has not paid their levies, that is the strata manager’s territory entirely, and the building manager has no role in it at all.
If the fire contractor missed an inspection, that is the building manager’s problem to chase, because the contractor register and the compliance calendar are theirs to keep. If you want to change a bylaw, you are back with the strata manager, who will take it to a general meeting. And if the builder’s warranty on a newer building expires next year, you genuinely need both, working together: the building manager documents the defects while the strata manager runs the legal process, and this is the situation where having the two roles talking to each other earns its keep many times over.
Can one company do both?
It is sometimes offered, and the price can look attractive, so it deserves a fair answer rather than a reflexive one. The thing to understand is that the two roles quietly check each other. The building manager’s monthly report is how the committee knows whether the money the strata manager collects is being spent well, and the strata manager’s records are how the committee holds the building programme to account. When one supplier performs both roles, that check disappears, so if you are considering a combined offer, it is entirely reasonable to ask who is checking whom, and which half of the work is receiving less attention at that price.
Excel provides building management, the physical side of the scheme, to more than fifty Sydney buildings, and we work alongside your strata manager whoever they are. If you would like to go deeper on what the role involves day to day, our guide What Does a Building Manager Do? continues from here.