Strata Repairs and Maintenance

How to use this course

This course is for the person who gets handed the screwdriver in a strata building: the caretaker, the building manager who likes to fix things, the handyperson on a maintenance contract, the committee member who would rather patch the hallway than wait three weeks for a quote. It teaches the small repairs that make up most of the job list in an apartment block, and how to do them so they last and don’t show.

What breaks in a strata building

Look at a year of work orders in almost any block and the same three causes come up again and again:

Water. A shower above leaks, a roof gutter overflows in a storm, a washing machine hose bursts. Water damage gives you stained ceilings, bubbling paint, swollen skirting boards and mould.
Damage. Furniture removalists gouge the corridor walls, someone kicks a hole in the stairwell, a door gets slammed until its closer fails, a tagger hits the bin room.
Wear and tear. Levers work loose, hinges sag, doors start to stick, paint scuffs at trolley height, silicone goes black and lifts.

So the course follows the jobs: walls and paint first, then water and mould, then door and window hardware, then vandalism and small timber jobs.

Handyman work only

Everything here is work you can do without a trade licence, as long as the job stays under your state’s value limit. Lesson 1 shows where that line sits: electrical, plumbing, gas, waterproofing, fire doors and (in some states) locksmithing need a licensed tradesperson, at any price. Part of being good at this job is knowing when to stop and call one.

How each lesson works

Goal: what you’ll be able to do by the end.
The lesson itself, step by step, with diagrams and photos.
At Jacaranda Court: the lesson applied to our example building.
On the job: a short task to do at your own building.
A three-question quiz to check the main points.
Sources: the regulators, health guides and manufacturers’ instructions used.

Allow 20 to 40 minutes to read a lesson, and longer to practise. Patching and painting are skills: the first patch you do will show, the fifth won’t.

What the labels mean

The law: a requirement in an Act, regulation or licence rule. Check the current version for your state.
Health guidance: what a health department or safety regulator advises.
Manufacturer says: follow the instructions on the product in your hand; they beat any general advice, including this course.
Practitioner tip: experience from people who do the work. Useful, untested, sometimes a matter of taste.

Jacaranda Court

Every lesson comes back to one fictional building:


Jacaranda Court	40 lots over four storeys, built in 1986, brick and concrete with plasterboard linings inside
Common areas	a lobby, two stairwells, one lift, corridors on each floor, a basement car park, a bin room and a laundry block
Doors	apartment front doors are fire-rated with closers; stairwell doors are fire doors; the car park has a roller door and a pedestrian gate
People	a five-member committee, a strata manager, and you: the caretaker, on site three days a week, with approval to spend up to $1,000 a job without asking
State	left open, so you can apply your own state’s rules

Built in 1986 matters: Jacaranda Court is old enough to have asbestos in some places and lead in some of its oldest paint. Lesson 2 explains why that changes how you work.

Who fixes what

In a strata building there are two kinds of space. Common property (corridors, stairwells, the outside of the building, the structure) belongs to everyone and is looked after by the body corporate, so it’s where most of your work happens. Lots (the apartments) belong to their owners, who fix their own things. The boundary between them varies by state and by the building’s plan, and the Strata Building Management course covers it in detail. In this course, when a job is inside a lot, the lesson says so.

What this course is not

It is not a trade qualification and it is not legal or health advice. If a job is bigger than you, more dangerous than you expected, or you aren’t sure you’re allowed to do it, stop and ask the committee or the strata manager. A half-finished repair and a phone call is better than a finished repair that put you, a resident or the building’s insurance at risk.

General education, not trade or legal advice. Licence limits, asbestos rules and window safety laws differ by state and change, so check your regulator before you quote or start. If a job involves electricity, plumbing, gas, waterproofing, fire doors or anything you think may contain asbestos, stop and get the right licensed trade.