Strata life moves fast. Residents want problems fixed now, insurers want clean documentation, and committees want transparency. The best way to get all three? Put a small set of Vendor Management Best Practices in place so your jobs flow the same way every time: clear scope, compliant vendor, safe site, tidy invoice, happy residents.
Below are seven practices that fit how strata really runs in 2026.
1. Build a reliable, tiered vendor panel
Relying on one “go-to” tradie is risky when a storm rolls in or a gate jams at 6 am. A tiered vendor panel spreads risk and shortens response times. Think of it like your first XI, bench, and specialists.
Your Tier 1 vendors are ready for emergencies and make-safes, with after-hours coverage and stocked vehicles. Tier 2 handles routine work consistently. Tier 3 brings the niche skills you need a few times a year.
The strength of this approach is predictability. When a leak starts during school pickup, you already know who answers quickly in that suburb, who carries roof safety gear, and who can authorise a small make-safe without waiting for you to call the committee. Over time, you’ll also see which vendors fix things on the first visit and which ones need a nudge.
Actions to take next:
- List your top recurring issues by building type and suburb cluster.
- For each issue, note the capabilities required (licences, equipment, after-hours coverage).
Confirm at least two options in each tier, per critical trade across your patch.
2. Right-size onboarding and keep compliance alive
Onboarding is not about box-ticking; it protects residents, reduces incidents, and keeps your insurer comfortable. The trick is to match the depth of checks to the work risk. Roofers need working-at-heights evidence and SWMS; electricians need the right licences and test records; any vendor who takes photos on common property needs to follow basic privacy rules. Once collected, compliance should run in the background, and documents expire, so your system needs to warn both you and the vendor well before that happens.
This living approach to compliance removes awkward surprises. You won’t discover the wrong insurance limit after an incident, and you won’t scramble for documents during an audit. Vendors appreciate the clarity too: they know what to provide, when, and where it sits.
Actions to take next:
- Define minimum compliance per trade and risk (licences, insurance limits, SWMS triggers, inductions).
- Set automatic 30/14/7-day reminders for expiries and block bookings if core documents lapse.
Store every document against the vendor, asset and job so your audit trail is one click.
3. Scope smart and price transparently
Most budget blowouts start with vague requests like “fix roof leak” or “gate not working.” A smart scope explains the problem and the expected outcome in practical language, with photos or a short video to show context. Tie that to a rate card that spells out call-out fees, labour bands, after-hours multipliers, and typical parts mark-ups, and you remove the guesswork that causes disputes.
This clarity speeds everything up. Quotes don’t bounce back and forth. Variations don’t turn into debates because the evidence, photos, test results, and part numbers are already attached. And invoices match POs because the description of work never changed shape.
Actions to take next:
- Create two or three scope templates for your most common jobs (leaks, lights, auto-gates).
- Require before/after photos and asset IDs for every job; video where faults are intermittent.
Use a simple rule for variations: require a photo or test result and approval before proceeding beyond the make-safe cap.
4. Match SLAs to risk and keep residents calmly informed
Service levels only work if they reflect the reality of buildings. A life/safety risk needs a rapid acceptance and arrival target; a stuck garage gate is urgent but not the same as a flooding riser; routine items should be scheduled and finished within reasonable windows. Aligning SLAs with risk types stops over-promising and under-delivering. Pair that with predictable updates, and complaints fall away because people know what’s happening.
Residents and committees respond well to simple, consistent messages. “Tech assigned,” “ETA 90 minutes,” “Onsite now,” “Awaiting parts, due Friday,” and “Completed; photos attached” are the kinds of short notes that lower the temperature when things are tense. They also form part of your audit trail.
Actions to take next:
- Set four SLA tiers: Emergency, Urgent, Routine, Programmed, each with acceptance, ETA and completion targets.
- Add message templates for each job stage so anyone in your team can hit send.
Capture geo-stamped arrival automatically to back your SLA reporting.
5. Make safety and quality visible
In strata, the public is the workplace: car parks, foyers, roofs, plant rooms, gardens. Safety and quality need to be seen in the evidence you collect, not just assumed in the way you work. A short pre-start with a photo of the area and the controls in place proves the job started safely.
A SWMS for high-risk activities proves that the hazards were understood. At the end, photos, labels, serial numbers and test results prove the fix meets the standard.
This visible loop builds trust. Insurers see it, committees see it, and residents see it when a contractor tidies up and adds a clear “job complete” note. It also drives better behaviour: when everyone knows evidence is required, quality rises and repeat faults fall.
Actions to take next:
- Use a one-minute pre-start checklist on every job; require SWMS where the risk warrants it.
- Gate completion on evidence: before/after photos, labels/stickers, and relevant test results.
Run occasional spot-audits and log any re-work with due dates.
6. Score performance and run light QBRs
What gets measured gets managed. A simple scorecard that mentions on-time attendance, first-time-fix, safety/compliance, cost discipline and resident feedback, gives you an objective view of who’s delivering.
Sharing those results monthly keeps vendors engaged and focused. A short quarterly chat is usually enough to course-correct: celebrate the wins, agree on one or two improvements, and adjust work allocation accordingly.
The goal isn’t to punish; it’s to grow a reliable bench. Over six to twelve months, more of your spend naturally shifts to the vendors who are safe, fast and thorough. The others either lift or make room for new entrants.
Either way, your residents and committees feel the improvement.
Actions to take next:
- Publish a one-page scorecard monthly to your active vendors.
- Hold 30-minute quarterly reviews for your top trades and agree a 90-day improvement plan.
- Link preferred status and job allocation to score trends.
7. Govern spend, data and ESG with one simple playbook
Good governance keeps you out of drama. Clear approval limits prevent awkward conversations after the fact. A straightforward three-quote rule for larger non-urgent work maintains fairness. Practical privacy guardrails, like keeping access codes out of plain text and storing job photos in the work order, not on personal phones, protect residents and you. Adding light-touch ESG practices (supplier declarations, waste-disposal evidence, and recycling stats on programs like lighting) shows the committee you’re managing responsibly.
When these rules are short and visible, everyone relaxes. Vendors know what’s expected. Your team knows how to approve and when to escalate. Audits become routine rather than stressful.
Actions to take next:
- Write a one-page delegations and variations matrix and share it with vendors.
- Add privacy notes to job instructions and move sensitive details to secure fields.
- For relevant jobs, request waste-disposal evidence and track simple ESG metrics on programs.
Calm, clear, and fast issue resolution depends on good vendor management
Great strata management isn’t about heroics; it’s about consistency. With a tiered panel, living compliance, smart scopes, risk-matched SLAs, visible safety, simple scorecards and one clear governance page, your jobs move smoothly from request to evidence to invoice.
Residents get timely updates. Committees see value. You get your evenings back.
Start small, pick two buildings and three trades. Set up the templates, agree on the rules, and run a four-week pilot. You’ll see fewer follow-ups, cleaner invoices, and safer sites almost immediately.
That’s Vendor Management Best Practices working for you, not the other way around.
Ready to run all seven practices without more spreadsheets? Use i4T Maintenance – Maintenance Management Software.
- Centralise onboarding and automated compliance alerts.
- Dispatch the right tradie fast with a tiered panel and live SLAs.
- Send resident-friendly updates and capture geo-stamped photos/SWMS.
- Track scorecards and KPIs that fairly reward high performers.
- Keep approvals, variations, privacy and ESG evidence tidy in one audit trail.
Let’s make vendor management calm, clear and fast, so you can focus on the building, not the paperwork.
FAQs
Use last year’s spend by trade, add seasonality (storms, leaf fall, heatwaves), and set monthly caps per building. Review against actuals quarterly and adjust.
Share their scorecard, set a 90-day improvement plan, document misses, then remove preferred status. Keep records and give written notice per the contract.
Use coded key safes, log who takes what and when, rotate access codes, and keep codes in secure fields, not in job notes or texts. Audit access monthly.
For recurring work, an MSA wins: one set of terms (rates, insurance, safety, privacy) plus job-specific scopes. It saves time and reduces disputes.
Collect evidence up front: before/after photos, cause of failure, part numbers, test results, and a make-safe report. Match invoices to the scope and keep everything attached to the work order for the assessor.