Spotlight on Strata profiles strata managers across Australia who are making a difference in the lives of strata communities. Here, we shine the spotlight on Andrew Chambers, Managing Director of Chambers Franklyn Strata Management.
Andrew Chambers wants more Australians to choose careers in strata management.
The President of the national Strata Community Association (SCA) is a passionate advocate for the profession and a strong supporter of the industry that he loves.
“My message to new professionals in strata management is to ask lots of questions, look to your peers and reach out to people. There is a lot of knowledge out there to tap into and educate yourself.
“Build relationships with your peers, your contractors and other stakeholders within the industry. Strata management is a relationships business so the more you can. build, the easier it will become.
“Strata management offers plentiful rewards and the opportunity to build career pathways to senior management or even business ownership.
“We’re the glue that holds strata communities together, supporting people to live alongside each other in a peaceful environment and get along.
“When committees make decisions they do so guided by our experience and knowledge of financial management, maintenance matters and legislative requirements.
“We’re the independent person they can rely on to ensure their buildings are run as they should be, in accordance with the legislation and maintained to the required standards.
“As strata living becomes a more favoured way of life for Australians, our industry has an opportunity to strengthen communities as we support people to be comfortable in their homes.”
Andrew is Managing Director of Chambers Franklyn Strata Management in Western Australia, a business he co-founded in 2001 following a career in general real estate and banking.
Andrew now employs 17 staff with more than 6000 lots under management.
“We started very small in 2001 and we’re now one of the leaders in Western Australia,” he said. “We’ve always been a family values and oriented business with a focus on staff culture, some of who have been with us for 15 years.
“We have an ethos of giving back through our associations, as we believe that sharing knowledge will allow us to build a better industry and will encourage more people into strata management.”
Andrew said the onset of Covid-19 had created challenges as well as opportunities for his team.
“With so many of our clients working from home we were quick to respond with additional cleaning, safety and maintenance measures,” he said.
“Some of our larger buildings established Covid sub-committees and we worked with them to ensure Government regulations were maintained.
“Alongside this we identified opportunities to improve communication and implement new technology more quickly than we would have otherwise.
“StrataVote was already on our horizon and we accelerated its introduction as a result of Covid.
“What we’ve found is that StrataVote gives a voice to property owners who can’t attend meetings. In the past they might have relied on a proxy, but now they can go online and make sure their vote is counted.
“This creates the ability for property owners to cast their votes from anywhere in WA, Australia or the world.
“From our own team’s perspective, StrataVote saves us time and expense that would otherwise be spent creating and posting meeting notices. It’s a very easy way to send information instantaneously, without the risk of delays in the mail.
“StrataVote enables our strata managers to make better use of their time and redirect it into client relationships.