› Flat Chat Strata Forum › The Professionals › Strata working bee; good idea or bad idea? › Current Page
Hi Urban,
The idea of a working bee is at the heart of my SP. My SP operates completely on a philosophy that volunteers will get the job done – every job.
This philosophy has meant
- significant projects are still a work in progress after almost 20 years
- there is a significant list of unfinished projects not receiving attention
- there is a long list of projects that still have not commenced
- urgent matters get dealt with in what is called * time (* strata plan name withheld)
- other matters get dealt with if and when someone has the time or inclination
- some matters do not get dealt with because of who wants them dealt with
Working bees work if you are not in a hurry to get anything done but they are a good way for people to get to know their neighbors – if they show up.
If you are paying 5k in levies then i am surprised that the EC is calling a working bee – where is your money going?
We pay less than 1k per year in a large SP primarily because there is the expectation volunteers will do everything; they don't.
I would not recommend relying on volunteers to do jobs that need doing around an SP. That sort of idea sets the bar pretty low for the expectation regarding appearance and the general standard of the SP. A lot of things will not get done and those who do show up are not always happy with those who do not show up. The novelty of such in-house gatherings soon wears off.
We have significant money sitting in some sinking fund categories waiting for people to volunteer to do the job; trouble is some of these jobs require know-how that most owners do not have and most volunteering work is manual labor work. Some jobs are now begining out sourced at significant expense.
“Working bees” is not a mindset you want an SP to get into because people start thinking they can get things done for “free”; they get used to not paying to have things done; things start not being done and the whole SP goes downhill until it ends up full of a clique of owners who are happy with the sad state of place because it is cheap. The SP's reputation slides and the value of the SP will decline.
The OC has an obligation regarding maintenance and repair; this obligation gets seriously compromised if an SP starts relying on the owners effort (rather than their money) to meet that obligation — and CTTT cannot be relied on to get thing back on track.
Great social event for those who show up but a disaster as far as getting whats needs doing done in any sort of reasonable time-frame. That's my experience in an SP that relies on the owners doing things.