Boutique Newcastle business wins big at international strata awards

While higher-density living is defining the Newcastle of tomorrow, a local service provider has surprised the incumbents across Australasia by taking out an international title. 

Up-and-coming Newcastle property business, Vantage Strata, has surprised long-established companies by nabbing the international title at the most prestigious awards night in the strata industry. 

On-site building manager and Newcastle local Ross Peverill said the team couldn’t contain their excitement when the Strata Community Association of Australia announced the local business as the small-sized business of the year. 

“We do things a bit differently here, so we were delighted but also pretty surprised that Vantage Strata took this competitive title,” Mr Peverill said. 

“We’re loud in stating that we believe the standard industry business model is broken.”

Team leader Brad Spence, building manager Paul Godinet, strata managers Tereza Mareckora, Sarah Bakker, Bradley Spence, Nakita Richards, and Gidget Palmer and customer service representatives Lea Rugg, Gillian Redmond, Trudy Chisholm, Grace Newton; all Hunter Valley locals, celebrated the big win last week. 

Brad Spence explained that while the conventional strata manager performs such a high number of tasks that they are unlikely to deliver an adequate level of service, Vantage Strata has developed a different approach. 

“We’ve deployed industry-leading technology, structured our business on specialised tasks rather than making staff generalists, and allocate considerably fewer properties per manager,” Mr Spence said.

“In a traditional model, a manager will look after around 60 properties and it is impossible for a manager to have meaningful knowledge and communication across their portfolio. The Newcastle strata team have a portfolio of no more than 10 buildings per strata manager.”

From a standing start in 2018, Vantage Strata Newcastle currently manages more than 1,000 lots and has been appointed on developments currently under construction in excess of a further 1,500 lots.

Nearly ten per cent of Australians currently live in strata titled apartments and this is expected to grow to 50 per cent in the coming decades. Newcastle’s residential landscape is being reshaped by sophisticated developments.

The growth of the Vantage Strata business has required a move to a new premise in the high profile location at the LUME, a major master planned luxury redevelopment on the waterfront, on Honeysuckle Drive.

“LUME is another example of the trend towards apartment living that is prevalent not just here in Newcastle but around Australia,” Mr Spence said.

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