A New Building’s First Year: Setting Up Management the Right Way
The first year of a new strata building is the most important one it will ever have — and the one most often wasted. The systems, records and habits established (or not) in those first twelve months shape how the building runs, and what it costs, for a decade. Get it right and the building starts life on solid foundations. Get it wrong and owners spend years untangling what should have been set up properly from day one. After thirty years managing Sydney buildings, here’s what a good first year actually establishes.
Why the First Year Matters So Much
A brand-new building arrives with everything to set up and nothing yet in place: no established contractors, no maintenance rhythm, no records beyond what the developer hands over, and a brand-new owners corporation still finding its feet. Whatever gets built in that first year becomes the default for years afterward. It’s also the window in which the building’s defect and warranty rights are live and most valuable — miss the setup here and it’s expensive to recover.
Getting the Handover Right
It starts with a proper handover from the developer. A new building should arrive with its building manuals, warranties for plant and equipment, as-built plans, compliance certificates, the occupation certificate, and details of the systems and contractors used during construction. In practice, this documentation is often incomplete or scattered, and the first job is to secure it, organise it and store it where the owners corporation can actually find it. Documentation lost in the handover is documentation the building pays to reconstruct later — if it can.
Establishing the Asset Register and Maintenance Plan
A new building is full of new plant — lifts, pumps, fire systems, HVAC, pool equipment — all under warranty and all needing scheduled servicing to stay that way. Building the asset register and preventative maintenance schedule in year one does two things: it keeps warranties valid by ensuring equipment is serviced as required, and it establishes the maintenance rhythm the building will run on. Skip it, and the building drifts into reactive maintenance and voided warranties before it’s even settled.
The Defect Window Is Open — Use It
This is the big one for a new building. The statutory warranty periods are running from completion, and for larger buildings the building bond and inspection process is underway. The first year is when a defect register must be established and kept updated, when an independent defects inspection should be commissioned well before the minor-defect window closes, and when claims need to be lodged in time. A new building that doesn’t actively manage its defects in year one can lose the right to claim for problems that are the developer’s responsibility — a loss measured in tens of thousands. This works best coordinated between the building manager tracking the building and the strata manager handling the formal steps.
Setting Up Contractors and Systems
A new building needs its operational scaffolding built: reliable contractors engaged for cleaning, gardening, fire, lifts and the rest, on competitive and transparent terms; access control and security set up and the key/device register started clean; and reporting and communication established with the new committee. Getting this right from the start — rather than inheriting whatever the developer left running — sets the cost base and service quality for years.
Supporting a Brand-New Committee
The owners corporation in a new building is often made up of first-time committee members learning as they go. Good building management supports them through that first year — clear reporting, straight advice, and taking the operational load so the committee can focus on decisions rather than day-to-day firefighting. The habits set here, good or bad, tend to stick.
Where a Building Manager Fits In
The first year is where an experienced building manager adds the most value, because so much is being established at once. We secure and organise the handover documentation, build the asset register and maintenance plan, keep the defect register and coordinate inspections while the warranty window is open, set up contractors and systems on transparent terms, and support a new committee finding its feet — all alongside the strata manager, who handles the owners-corporation governance and any legal steps. Starting a building right is far cheaper than fixing a start that went wrong.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should transfer from the developer when a new building is handed over?
Building manuals, warranties for plant and equipment, as-built plans, compliance certificates, the occupation certificate, and details of the systems and contractors used. In practice this documentation is often incomplete, and securing and organising it is one of the first and most important jobs — because what’s lost in the handover is expensive to reconstruct.
Why is the first year so important for a new building?
Because the systems, records, contractors and habits established in year one shape how the building runs and what it costs for years — and because the building’s defect and warranty rights are live and most valuable in that early window. Setting things up properly at the start avoids years of untangling later.
What happens if we don’t manage defects in the first year?
You risk losing rights. Statutory warranty periods run from completion, and minor-defect windows in particular pass quickly. A new building that doesn’t keep a defect register, commission inspections in time and lodge claims within the periods can forfeit the ability to claim for problems that were the developer’s responsibility.
Do we need a building manager for a brand-new building?
Most new buildings of any size benefit from one, because the first-year workload — handover, asset register, defects, contractor setup, supporting a new committee — is substantial and consequential. An experienced building manager establishes the foundations the building will run on, which is hard for a volunteer committee to do alone while also learning the ropes.
Starting a New Building? Start It Right.
Building Management Australia is a Sydney building management firm — not a strata agent. We set new buildings up properly from day one: securing the handover, building the asset register and maintenance plan, keeping defects tracked while the warranty window is open, establishing contractors and systems, and supporting a new committee — alongside your strata manager. If you’re responsible for a new or near-new building, request a proposal at bmaus.com.au or email Andrew directly at [email protected].
About the Author
Andrew Veron is the founder of Building Management Australia (BMA), an independent Sydney building management firm established in 1995. BMA is a building management company — not a strata agent — providing on-site and visiting building management, facilities management, concierge, cleaning and valet services to residential, commercial and mixed-use properties. Over the past 30 years, Andrew and the BMA team have managed buildings across the Eastern Suburbs, North Sydney, Inner Sydney, Parramatta and the Sydney CBD, with assets currently valued in excess of $3 billion under management. Because BMA is independent of any strata management firm, committees receive unbiased advice and transparent contractor relationships. Reach Andrew at [email protected] or bmaus.com.au.