Strata Security, CCTV & Intercoms for Owners Corporations in Sydney

What makes a strata job different

1. 1

   The quote has to survive a committee meeting you are not in

   Nobody from our business is in the room when the motion is put, so the document has to do the work: an itemised schedule ex-GST priced per camera, per door, per handset and per gate, scope in plain language a lay committee member can follow, and staging options priced separately so the committee can approve a reduced scope rather than defer the whole thing. We will also attend a committee meeting or walk the site with owners — usually faster than three rounds of email through the manager.

2. 2

   Common property versus lot property is the first question, not the last

   The boundary decides who pays and whether the owners corporation can even authorise the work. Entry doors, lobbies, lifts, car parks, driveways, gates, bin rooms, corridors, risers and the wiring in them are generally common property; what sits inside a lot generally is not. We identify every item that crosses the line at quote stage and price it as a separate section, so the owners corporation can approve its part and owners can decide on theirs without the two becoming entangled mid-job.

3. 3

   Per-lot billing and works that split between the OC and owners

   An intercom upgrade is the classic case: the panel, riser and wiring are common property, but 48 in-lot handsets may be 48 separate decisions. We quote the common-property works as one contract to the owners corporation and the in-lot component as a per-lot rate, so the manager can bundle it into a special levy or invoice owners individually. Either way the split is in writing before anyone commits, not negotiated after the scaffolding is up.

4. 4

   Access to 40 lots without 40 phone calls

   Any job needing entry to individual units is scheduled in blocks with notice periods that suit the building, working through the strata or building manager rather than contacting owners directly unless asked. We tell you honestly how many access days a scope needs before it is approved — underestimating that is the most common reason a strata job runs long and sours a committee on its contractor.

5. 5

   Car-park gates: the failure that costs the most goodwill

   A gate that fails closed traps residents; one that fails open removes the building's security overnight. Both generate committee emails within the hour. We service and replace sliding, cantilever and boom gates and their operators, and where a gate is at end of life we say so rather than selling a fourth repair on a motor that has already had three. Safety edges and photocells set up properly, a manual release residents can actually find, and a visitor path that does not depend on someone walking down to the driveway.

6. 6

   Fobs, copied keys and the register nobody keeps

   Most buildings cannot say how many credentials are in circulation, which means the building's security is unknown rather than bad. A managed credential system fixes that: every fob issued to a lot, lost fobs cancelled individually instead of re-keying the building, a departing tenant's access ending when their fob is voided. We set the register up with the manager at handover — a credential system nobody administers drifts back to the same problem in two years.

7. 7

   Cameras, residents' privacy and the by-laws

   Coverage in a residential building is more sensitive than in a commercial one, because the people recorded live there. Common property — car parks, lobbies, entries, bin rooms, mail areas, driveways — is ordinary scope. Cameras overlooking a lot's private open space or front door are not something we will quote without the owners corporation having dealt with it properly, and retention, viewing rights and release authorisation are its decisions to record. We raise it at design stage and configure to whatever it resolves.

What a typical scope covers

• Intercom upgrades — audio and video, analogue-to-IP replacement, handset and door-station renewal on Aiphone, Fermax, 2N, Comelit, DoorBird, Hikvision and more
• Common-property CCTV over car parks, lobbies, entries, bin rooms, mail areas and driveways
• Access control and managed fob systems with a per-lot credential register, cancellation and reporting
• Car-park and driveway gates — sliding, cantilever and boom — supplied, automated, repaired and maintained
• Lift and riser access control where the building needs floor-by-floor restriction
• Building and common-area alarms, and monitoring of plant and pump rooms
• Licensed electrical — common-area and car-park lighting, gate-motor supply, emergency and exit lighting, switchboard work in common property
• Data cabling and comms-cupboard work for IP intercoms and cameras
• Scheduled maintenance with a written condition report the committee can table

How the work gets bought and delivered

1. 1

   Site inspection with the strata or building manager

   Free within 100 km of our Caringbah workshop. We walk the common property, open the comms cupboards and gate cabinets, identify what is installed and what condition it is in, and mark every item where common property and lot property meet. If a committee member wants to walk it with us, that usually saves a meeting.

2. 2

   A quote written for the motion

   Itemised ex-GST per camera, per door, per handset and per gate, with common-property and in-lot works in separate sections, staging priced independently, and recurring costs — monitoring, licensing, maintenance — as their own lines rather than buried. Written so the strata manager can attach it to an agenda without editing it.

3. 3

   Scheduling around residents

   Access blocks for in-lot work booked with proper notice through the manager, noisy work confined to agreed hours, and the car park kept usable — a gate is never left non-functional overnight without an agreed arrangement first.

4. 4

   Commissioning and handover to the manager

   Every intercom station called, every door cycled, every gate run through its full safety sequence. Then the credential register is set up with the strata or building manager, they are trained on issuing and cancelling, and documentation is handed over with the CCEW for the licensed electrical work — so the next committee inherits records rather than folklore. Optional servicing runs on a fixed annual figure with a written report the committee can table.

Compliance & licensing

What moves the price

Strata work is quoted per item and split by property boundary, itemised ex-GST. What moves the number:

• Lot count — an intercom upgrade scales almost linearly with handsets, and the in-lot component is usually the larger half of the job
• Whether existing cabling can be reused — a riser that will carry an IP intercom is the biggest single saving available, and the first thing we test at the inspection
• Building age and riser access — full or inaccessible risers can turn a one-week job into a three-week one, which is why we open the cupboards before quoting
• Access days needed to individual lots, and how the building schedules them
• Gate condition — a service, an operator replacement and a full gate-and-operator replacement are three very different numbers, and we will tell you which one the gate has reached
• Camera count and coverage strategy — a car park covered properly costs more than a camera at each entry, and is worth more
• Recurring costs — monitoring, per-credential or software licensing, and maintenance, quoted as their own lines so the committee sees the ongoing figure, not just the capital one

Ask for the staging options. Most committees approve more readily when they can see year one and year two priced separately, and a deferred stage should never require the first to be redone.

Frequently asked

Does our owners corporation need approval before this work starts?

Work to common property generally needs an owners corporation resolution, and what form that takes depends on the works and the scheme — a question for your strata manager. What we provide is the itemised scope and system description that make the motion easy to draft. We do not start work on common property without written authority.

How do you handle the split between common property and individual lots?

We identify every item that crosses the boundary at quote stage and price common-property works and in-lot works as separate sections. That lets the owners corporation approve its part while owners decide on theirs, and lets the strata manager bill each correctly — either as a levy or as per-lot invoices.

Can you upgrade our intercom without rewiring the whole building?

Often, yes. Whether the existing riser cabling can carry a modern audio or video system is the first thing we test at the inspection, because reusing it is the largest single saving available. If it cannot be reused we say so plainly and price the cabling as its own line rather than absorbing it into a headline figure.

Our car-park gate keeps failing. Repair or replace?

We will tell you which one it has actually reached. A worn operator on a sound gate is a repair; failing structure, a superseded operator with no parts support, or several repairs in a year is a replacement, and selling you a fourth repair would be dishonest. Either way we quote both options with the reasoning, so the committee decides with the facts.

Can we stop copied keys and fobs circulating?

Yes — that is the main reason buildings move to a managed credential system. Every fob is issued against a lot and recorded, a lost fob is cancelled individually instead of re-keying the building, and a departing tenant's access ends when their credential is voided. We set the register up with your manager at handover and train them on issuing and cancelling.

Where can cameras go in a residential building?

Common property — car parks, lobbies, entries, bin rooms, mail areas, driveways. Cameras overlooking a lot's private open space or front door are a different matter and we will not quote them without the owners corporation having dealt with it properly. Retention, viewing rights and release procedure should be recorded by the owners corporation; we configure to whatever it resolves.

Can you take over maintenance of systems another contractor installed?

Usually. Bring whatever documentation the building holds — intercom and panel types, gate operator make and model, who holds administrator credentials — and we will report honestly on what is serviceable, what is at end of life and what each path costs. Buildings frequently discover at this point that nobody has the admin password to their own system; that is fixable, and better found now than during a failure.