Rebuilding Common Property Cleaning in a Lachlan Precinct Tower, Waterloo
The Lachlan precinct in Waterloo NSW 2017 is built around large residential towers — high-teens residential levels, two basement car park levels, and frequently a podium childcare tenancy or ground-floor cafe sharing the lobby. Pro Clean Corp services Waterloo 2017 and surrounds. This page sets out how we review and rebuild a common property cleaning scope in a building of that size when the original scope has not changed since handover.
A scope written for a half-empty building
Committees usually open with a request to replace the cleaners. A walk-through usually points somewhere else — at the scope. Handover scopes are written when a fraction of the apartments are occupied, and they allocate a single early-morning pass across the entire building. That is adequate at partial occupancy. At full occupancy, with constant parcel and food delivery traffic, a childcare drop-off flow crossing the lobby twice a day and cafe customers through the same doors, one 6am pass cannot hold a standard past mid-morning.
The symptoms are consistent. Bin rooms become noticeable from the lift lobby because they are cleaned on a schedule unrelated to the council collection cycle and the bins themselves have never been washed. Lobbies look fine at 7am and tired by 5pm, which is when most owners actually see them. And basement levels that have never been machine scrubbed carry a tyre rubber film across the drive aisles, leaving a dim, grubby level residents use every day.
An hours-per-area breakdown makes the case plainly. It sets out how many minutes a week the current scope allocates to each area, which is usually the first time a committee has seen the bin room and the basements quantified at all.
What we changed
- Redistribute hours before adding any. Corridor vacuuming moves to a three-times-weekly rotation, releasing time for the areas that are genuinely under-serviced.
- Add an afternoon presentation pass. Entry glass, lobby floor, concierge desk area, mail room and both lift cars, timed for late afternoon — our standard lobby and concierge program.
- Rebuild the bin room routine. Daily clean and deodorise aligned to the council collection cycle, bins washed fortnightly, waste streams corrected, and repeat illegal dumping photographed for the building manager — part of our common area cleaning scope.
- Stage the basement scrub. Consecutive weekends, half a level at a time, with signage placed a week ahead so no resident loses access — see car park cleaning.
- Coordinate the commercial tenancies. A podium childcare centre and ground-floor cafe are brought under the same supervisor, so tracked-in mess from either is one team's responsibility rather than a dispute — see childcare cleaning and cafe and restaurant cleaning.
- Report monthly with photos. Completed periodic work plus any defects noticed on site, delivered to the strata manager before each committee meeting.
What the owners corporation ends up holding
The deliverables are an hours-per-area scope the committee holds a copy of, a fixed itemised monthly price with any staged basement scrub quoted separately as a one-off, a named site supervisor, month-to-month terms ending on 30 days written notice, and monthly photo reporting. Defect logging comes with it — failed lighting, damaged door closers and similar items are reported to the building manager rather than left. The full ongoing scope is described on our Waterloo strata cleaning page, with pricing context on the rates page. Our other Waterloo case study covers a Danks Street retail precinct, and buildings in Chippendale run the same program.
Lachlan precinct towers — common questions
What kind of building does this scope suit?
Large residential towers of the type built in the Lachlan precinct of Waterloo 2017 — high-teens residential levels over two basement car park levels, often with a podium childcare tenancy or ground-floor cafe, two lift cores, a rooftop terrace and a gym.
What do committees usually raise?
Three items dominate meetings in buildings like this: a bin room noticeable from the lift lobby, a lobby that looks acceptable at 7am and poor by evening, and a basement never machine scrubbed since completion. In almost every case the contract has not been re-scoped since handover, when the building was half occupied.
What is usually the underlying problem?
The scope, not the cleaners. A handover scope typically allocates one early-morning pass across the whole building. That works at partial occupancy. At full occupancy, with constant parcel traffic and a childcare drop-off flow crossing the same lobby, a single 6am pass cannot hold the standard past mid-morning.
What does the restructured scope look like?
Hours are redistributed before any are added. The general clean shifts later, an afternoon lobby and lift presentation pass is added, the bin room moves to a daily clean aligned to the council collection cycle with bins washed fortnightly, and a staged basement machine scrub is scheduled across consecutive weekends.
How is the cost presented?
As a fixed itemised monthly figure, with any staged basement scrub quoted separately as a one-off. It is presented alongside an hours-per-area breakdown so a committee can see exactly how much time each area receives before and after.
What does the building receive?
A written hours-per-area scope, a named site supervisor, monthly photo reporting to the strata manager before each committee meeting, and defect logging — failed lighting, damaged door closers and similar items noticed on site are reported rather than ignored.
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