Resident Communication

How a Building Talks to Its Residents: Communication That Works

Here’s something thirty years of managing buildings has taught me: most resident anger isn’t about the problem. It’s about not being told about the problem. The water goes off for six hours and people are furious — not because it went off, but because nobody warned them. The lift is out for a week and the complaints pile up — not because it broke, but because nobody said why or for how long. Communication is the cheapest goodwill a building can buy, and the most commonly neglected.

Why Communication Is a Building System

It’s tempting to think of resident communication as a soft nicety, separate from the real work of pumps and contractors. It isn’t. A building that communicates well gets fewer complaints, faster reporting of problems (because residents know who to tell and believe it’ll be actioned), more cooperation during disruption, and a committee that isn’t drowning in questions. Communication is infrastructure, and it either works or it doesn’t.

The Channels a Building Actually Has

• The intercom and entry system. The building’s most-used communication tool, and the one residents notice instantly when it fails. It’s how visitors get in and how residents control that — which makes it a security tool as much as a convenience.
• Lobby, lift and door notices — old-fashioned but still the most reliable way to reach everyone in a building, including residents who don’t read email.
• Email and messaging. Fast and detailed, but only reaches people whose details you actually have and who read them.
• The building manager. The most valuable channel of all — a known, visible person residents can actually talk to. No system replaces someone who answers.

Most buildings need several of these, because no single channel reaches everyone.

What Good Communication Looks Like in Practice

It comes down to a handful of habits:

1. Tell people before, not after. A notice about tomorrow’s water shutdown is worth ten explanations afterward.
2. Say what, when, and for how long. ‘Lift 2 out of service’ is a complaint generator. ‘Lift 2 out of service until Thursday for a motor repair; Lift 1 running normally’ is information people can plan around.
3. Explain the why when it matters. Residents accept disruption far better when they understand the reason.
4. Update when things change. Nothing erodes trust like a notice with a date that passes silently.
5. Make it easy to reach someone. If residents don’t know who to tell, small problems go unreported until they’re big ones.

The Intercom Deserves Its Own Mention

Intercoms are the communication system residents interact with daily, and a failing one causes disproportionate frustration — visitors who can’t get in, deliveries that don’t arrive, residents buzzing people in blind because the camera doesn’t work. It’s also a genuine security control: an intercom that lets residents verify who they’re admitting is a security layer, and one that doesn’t is a door people open on faith. Keeping it maintained is worth more than it costs.

Communicating When It Matters Most

The moments that define a building’s communication are the hard ones: an emergency, a major works program, a long outage. That’s when residents most need to know what’s happening and are least tolerant of silence. A building that communicates clearly through a flood or a months-long remediation earns patience; one that goes quiet gets a war. The pattern is the same as with renovations and noise — most conflict comes from surprise and silence, not from the underlying event.

Where a Building Manager Fits In

Communication is a building manager’s job in the truest sense, because it’s about being present and known. We are the visible point of contact residents can reach, we get the notices out before disruption rather than after, keep the intercom and entry systems working, keep residents informed through works and emergencies, and report clearly to the committee so they know what’s happening in their building. The strata manager handles formal owners-corporation correspondence, meetings and statutory notices; the building manager handles the daily reality of a building talking to the people who live in it. It’s low-tech, unglamorous work, and it prevents more problems than almost anything else.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the best way to notify residents about disruptions?

Use more than one channel, and do it before the disruption. Lobby and lift notices reach everyone including those who don’t read email; email or messaging adds detail for those who do. The content matters as much as the channel: say what’s happening, when, for how long, and why — and update if it changes.

Why do residents get so angry about outages?

Usually because of the silence, not the outage. People can plan around a known problem; they can’t plan around an unexplained one. A clear notice before a shutdown, with a timeframe and a reason, converts most anger into acceptance. Most resident frustration is a communication failure wearing a maintenance costume.

Is the intercom really that important?

Yes — it’s the system residents use most and the one whose failure they feel immediately, affecting visitors, deliveries and daily life. It’s also a security control: an intercom that lets residents verify who they’re admitting is a real layer of protection, and a broken one leads to people buzzing in strangers blind.

Who should residents contact about building problems?

For anything physical — repairs, contractors, access, emergencies — the building manager. For levies, insurance, by-laws and disputes, the strata manager. The important thing is that residents actually know which is which and can reach someone easily, because when people don’t know who to tell, small problems go unreported until they’re expensive.

A Building That Actually Talks to Its Residents

Building Management Australia is a Sydney building management firm — not a strata agent. Being a visible, reachable point of contact, getting notices out before disruption, keeping intercoms and entry systems working, and keeping residents informed through works and emergencies is core building-management work — alongside your strata manager, who handles formal owners-corporation correspondence. If your building’s communication is generating more heat than light, 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.