Thanks Jimmy! Like most stratas, there are personality clashes. The oldies have been looking after minor items for many many years (over 20 years) such as strata gardens, rubbish removal, etc. The newbies (less than 3 years) now expect the oldies to keep doing these things – the newbies don’t touch strata gardens (gardener does it) nor pick up rubbish, etc. The newbies have no idea how much has been done voluntarily by the oldies – they comment they don’t want to hear about the past. So, to answer your question, it would not work for the newbies volunteering for the oldies, the newbies volunteer for themselves. It is the oldies time to be looked after, as they have saved the strata a lot of money over the years. It is not that they don’t want to hire tradies, there is money in the Capital Works Fund – the newbies don’t want the minor ($1,500) Special Levy struck to enable the painting to be done. Also, the oldies pay twice literally – once via levies and then paying painters. (To top up the Capital Works Fund.) The newbies only pay once into the levies and do the labour themselves. I think the Chairperson has opened a can of worms with this one – came from a house and doesn’t understand the concept of ‘who pays for what’ and Special Levies. Also there is the suspicion that the urgency is that the Chairperson is trying to spruce up their townhouse quickly to sell. Leave the painting as it has been done since the inception of the old strata complex – out of the Capital Works Fund. Some owners would also ignore the completion dates and who is going to monitor that? Newbies will leave and the problem remains again for the oldies to sort out. And I won’t go into the ‘wild’ colours that are being discussed, that don’t suit the age of the properties. Oh dear!