PropServ10.jpg Services To Developers

Introduction

Mainstay manages around 35,000 residential apartments and mixed-use schemes ranging from 10 unit conversions to over 1200 complex mixed-use schemes with a diverse range of services including, concierge and site staff, leisure facilities, retail, cafe bars, business centre, offices, live-work units and guest accommodation.

Our clients are wide-ranging and we are proud to number many well respected National and Regional Developers, (including most of the top 20 UK developers) and corporate institutional investors amongst its clients.

This client base provides us with a wealth of experience across the property management sector and a full and complete understanding of all types of residential and mixed-use property.

Our SolutionOur Clients have always expected a high level of service, but with more competition this has become key to maintaining long term relationships with our clients.  Mainstay has recognised this and has sought to tailor its approach on a property by property basis, seeking to provide an open and informative management style at a price that reflects the level of service on offer.

Mainstay works closely with a wide range of property developers and their technical and sales teams.  Uniquely we deliver a full package of advice and consultancy from pre-planning right through to handover and ultimately management of your scheme, utilising a dedicated new business department that handles developments right up to formal handover to the management team.

A Managing Agents needs a wide range of knowledge and skills in order to be successful.  At Mainstay, these include a detailed understanding of developers; their schemes; legal frameworks; financial stewardship and a talent for developing excellent customer relationships.  We have experience across a wide spectrum of property and are therefore well versed in current best practice.

At Mainstay we have chartered surveyors and senior professionals from property backgrounds who will deliver the technical know how.  This knowledge is underpinned by a service culture that helps us to deliver the right message clearly and effectively to your customers.

The ServicesWe believe that the range of services that we offer developers upfront adds substantially to the quality of the scheme going forward and can be tailored to your requirements to include the following:

- Single point of contact at Director level
- Management Proposals, pre-planning
- Review plans, elevations, consents etc. and comment
- Attend and contribute to technical meetings
- Provide methodology for refuse disposal
- Provide methodology for window cleaning
- Advice on access control and security
- Advice on finishes to common areas and landscapes
- Advice on Health and Safety matters
- Planning and consultancy for parking control systems
- Advise on staffing and recruit as appropriate
- Budgeting for service charge costs and reserves
- Advice on M&E information to be handed over
- Calculate complex and multi-level service charges and matrices 
- Advise on legal structure and attend legal meetings if required
- Supply standard lease or clauses
- Constantly review service costs throughout build
- Train sales team on service charges
- Undertake full independent snagging prior to handover
- Purchase reversionary interest including forward purchase if
  required
- Put in place all contracts prior to formal handover
- Phase handovers to reduce void costs whilst maintaining
  equitable balance for all.

Build and Planning ConsultationMainstay welcomes the opportunity to consult with developers during the planning and pre-build phase to ensure that new developments are built with service charges in mind.  Once built there is little that can be done to reduce the ongoing operating and maintenance charges for a building, but by considering the systems and layout of the site during planning, small changes can lead to large reductions in ongoing costs with little or no increase to the outlay.

Mainstay will also assist in advising on appropriate legal structures for developments, lease covenants and legal documents for resident management companies.  Early involvement in new sites means that we can ensure that we are fully up to date with the evolution of the site and that all service charge estimates are accurate to assist with initial sales.

We are also happy to provide basic training to sales staff on service charges and management to assist them with potential purchasers.

Handovers of Sites into Management
A couple of months prior to your anticipated management handover date, Mainstay’s new business team will contact you to arrange meetings on site with the site manager and any appropriate contractors.  These meetings allow us to cross-check the systems that are onsite and start to finalise the ongoing maintenance regime for the development and fine-tune the service charge budget.

As with all projects, investing time in the planning stage allows us to be absolutely clear concerning the required management regimes and the likely costs involved. 

Mainstay has a documented and in-depth handover process giving confidence to our clients that the handover into management will be smooth and efficient.

Void UnitsThe management of void units on a development is a primary function of a managing agent.  It is important to get the balance right between providing essential and high-quality services to early residents whilst reducing the ongoing maintenance costs to the developer.

In return we ask our Developer clients to pay void costs in a timely manner since it is essential to the wellbeing on a scheme to ensure that sufficient service charge funds are in place at all times.

We will work closely with our clients to ensure that both parties receive the best value for money, this could include phasing the management handover of the development or leaving certain services under developer control whilst works are completed.  Mainstay actively manages void costs and provides full reports to clients at an agreed frequency.

Health and SafetyHealth and safety management is an important and time-intensive activity and the penalities for breaches of Health and Safety Law are of serious concern.  as a result Mainstay invests heavily in ensuring that all our managements are completely compliant and safe. 

Mainstay has a dedicated team who track and control all maintenance contracts and statutory inspections to ensure that these take place and any resultant works are completed.  We ensure that all systems comply with relevant legislation, any British Standards and the manufacturer’s recommendations.  Through proactive maintenance and inspection, we believe this protects our managements and customers and ultimately also prolongs the working life of the equipment.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order, 2005 requires for the operator of a building to ensure that a regular fire risk assessment is carried out on the structure and communal facilities.  Mainstay directly employs its own team of Health & Safety consultants to carry out these activities and will ensure full compliance with this and other regulations.