Is a relationship between a tradesperson and a body corporate manager allowed?

Body corps tend to have tradesmen they favour, because they egt to know who is worth using and who isn’t. It’s not unusual to pay a little more (perhaps 5-10%) to get someone who will do the job right first time. There are definitely plenty of tradies in this town who don’t!

if you are a member of the executive committee for a body corporate, simply direct the BC manager to seek quotes and pick the companies/tradespeople you want quotes from as a committee rather than going through the ‘preferred suppliers’ list that the BC manager may or may not stick under your nose. of course, make sure your own choices are above board as well as you are meant to be representing the interests of all owners as a member of the committee.

if you are not a member of the committee, put your concerns in writing and send to committee and BC manager – if not answered satisfactorily, get along to the next AGM and get your concerns noted for the record there.

Professional relationship i’ll assume. I wouldnt expect the BC to be cold calling tradesmen out of the yellow pages every time something breaks, however i would be expecting them to be looking for someone with a decent hourly rate, and for big jobs get a quote from someone else.

As with most things in life nothing is set in concrete.

Our bc has a good working arrangement with a few conscientious affordable tradespeople who get asked for quotes, if the quote received is considered fair and reasonable for the work, there’s no need to tie up other tradies and the work by soliciting meaningless quotes elsewhere.

However for any large quotes or areas where a relationship is not in place ot not seen as the best option, the bc should be getting quotes.

But things like broken windows, plumbing, concreting, electrical jobs etc there are industry standards for the average jobs and most competent tradesmen running sound businesses will need to charge a certain hourly rate and should be withing 10-20% of the best and worst genuine quotes anyway.

What tradies and managers do in the privacy of the bedroom is their affair.

BC should be seeking three quotes for any work done. And choosing the best value for money.

I don’t think there are any legal issues, but there may be ethical ones. Is your BC manager part of the consortium that exists as I think they have some professional standards. I would expect a declaration on the basis of conflict of interest at minimum – but would not be surprised if this isn’t forthcoming. A BC manger is an employee of the corporation of owners, so it is up to the owners group to determine what rules they want to have in place – unfortunately most owners corporations are either passive and let the BC manager get on with it, or have power players in the mix that make life hell for everyone except them and the inner circle.