Strata Management Companies- Glorified Bill Paying Service?

You are correct, but in the competitive world of the provision of professional services that is all the the basic fee is for. If you want services above this these are additional and are charged for accordingly. 

We considered hiring a professional manager a few years ago and the decision boiled down to this: Are the owners willing to pay an extra $500 ($2,500 in total) each per year for someone to do the administrative things we can do ourselves? The owners decided that the $2,500 was better spent on maintenance/repairs of common property etc. Having said ‘the owners decided’ it is often frustrating to get owners to take on even the simplest strata task UNLESS it directly affects there unit.

I can see why stratas hire professional managers but hiring one only results in the admin stuff being less personal. Hiring a manager doesn’t get the buildings any better looked after or the maintenance any better performed. 

We are a small self managed strata.  My experience is that stratas hire a professional manager because no one wants to be responsible for the administrative things. In our strata this was:

-filing and keeping the paperwork. All we have is a plastic tub and papers get thrown in the tub after they are actioned. No one wanted to have the tub at their place; and

-issuing notices for fees and following up non or late payers. We give all owners access to our bank accounts so everything is transparent but most are reluctant to contact other owners re money.