If your building has had three managers in three years, you're not alone. Some industry data suggests building manager tenure averages as little as 7 months. That's barely enough time to learn a building's systems, let alone manage it proactively.
High turnover isn't just frustrating — it's expensive. Every transition means lost institutional knowledge, rebuilt contractor relationships, and a restart on issues that the previous manager understood.
Understanding why managers leave is the first step to keeping them. Here are six common reasons — and what committees and management companies can do differently.
The single biggest driver of building manager turnover is unsustainable workload. When managers are responsible for 8, 10, or more buildings, they're constantly behind. They can't be proactive. They're always in reactive mode, putting out fires.
This isn't a failure of individual managers — it's a business model problem. Companies that load managers with excessive portfolios are trading quality for margin. The managers eventually burn out and leave.
What helps: Companies that limit portfolios to 3-5 buildings per manager retain staff longer. Committees can ask about workload during tender processes.
Building management requires diverse skills: technical knowledge, contractor management, compliance tracking, resident communication, financial administration. Few people arrive with all of these capabilities.
Companies that throw managers into buildings without adequate training, systems, or senior support set them up to fail. Good intentions aren't enough when you don't have the tools.
What helps: Companies with structured training programs, documented procedures, and accessible senior support retain staff better. Ask about onboarding and ongoing development during tender.
Let's be direct: some committees treat building managers badly. Unreasonable demands, aggressive emails, personal criticism in meetings, expectations of 24/7 availability.
Good managers have options. When they're treated poorly, they leave for buildings (or companies) where they're treated with respect. The buildings with the worst committee behaviour often have the highest turnover — and then wonder why.
What helps: Professional, respectful engagement from committees. Clear expectations. Recognition that building managers are professionals doing a difficult job. Addressing committee members who behave inappropriately.
For many building managers, the role feels like a dead end. Same responsibilities year after year, no clear path to advancement, limited professional development opportunities.
Ambitious, capable people don't stay in dead-end roles. They either move to companies with progression opportunities or leave the industry entirely.
What helps: Management companies that offer career pathways, professional development, and opportunities to take on more responsibility retain their best people.
Building management is demanding work. Managers deal with emergencies, difficult residents, compliance pressures, and constant demands. When the pay doesn't reflect the demands, people look elsewhere.
Industry benchmarking suggests significant variation in building manager pay. Companies that pay at the lower end of the range experience higher turnover — and the cost of that turnover often exceeds what they saved on wages.
What helps: Management companies that pay competitive wages. Committees that understand the connection between fees, pay, and quality.
Sometimes the issue isn't the building — it's the employer. Poor internal culture, inadequate systems, unsupportive management, broken processes. Managers leave companies, not just buildings.
When you see the same management company cycling through multiple managers on your building, the company itself may be the problem. Good managers leave bad employers.
What helps: During tender, ask about staff tenure across the company. Ask to speak with current managers, not just directors. High company-wide turnover is a red flag.
The Macquarie Bank 2023 Strata Benchmarking Report found that in strata management businesses, an average of 2.7 out of 3.3 FTE strata management staff left in 2023. That's extraordinary turnover — over 80% of staff leaving within a year.
Buildings can't control industry-wide dynamics. But they can choose management companies with better retention records. They can treat building managers with respect. They can set realistic expectations.
When a building manager stays for years, they accumulate irreplaceable knowledge about the building, its systems, its residents, and its quirks. That knowledge is worth far more than the marginal savings from cutting management fees.
How does your building management measure up?
Take the free Building Management Scorecard to assess your current management against the standards that actually matter.
https://dino-p8buwtjz.scoreapp.com
Accord Property: Industry average building manager tenure of 7 months — https://accordproperty.com.au/building-management-services/
Macquarie Bank 2023 Strata Benchmarking Report: Staff turnover data (2.7 of 3.3 FTE leaving annually)
LUNA Management: What Makes a Good Strata Manager — https://luna.management/news/what-makes-a-good-strata-manager
ScaleSuite: Staff Turnover Rate and Workforce Churn in Australia — https://www.scalesuite.com.au/resources/staff-turnover-rate-and-workforce-churn-in-australia
Dino Biordi
Founder & Managing Director, LUNA Management
25+ years in construction | NSW ABMA Independent Review Panel
A Building Manager oversees the safety, security and maintenance of designated properties and ensures that these properties comply with all applicable regulations. A Building Manager is also known as a Facilities Manager, Caretaker or Resident Manager. They are assisting the Owners Corporation with managing the common property, controlling the use of the common property by non-residents, arranging the maintenance and repair of common property.
Hiring a building manager? Most committees focus on price. Here are 10 questions that reveal whether a manager will actually protect your building — not just tick boxes.
The Australian building management industry has a trust problem. From the severed link between construction and management to systemic failures in oversight, here's what's broken — and what to look for in a manager you can trust
