Body corporate &
shared grounds
Common areas for townhouse blocks, apartment complexes, retirement units and gated developments. Scheduled, predictable, and invoiced to the body corporate rather than chased from residents.
- Locally owned
- Fast response
- Free quotes
- South Auckland
Short answer: FRESHTURF maintains shared common areas at South Auckland complexes — lawns, verges, entranceways, communal paths and car parks — on a fixed schedule at a fixed price per visit.
We deal with one nominated contact: the body corporate manager, committee chair, or whoever the residents have appointed. Not fifteen owners with fifteen opinions.
Why shared grounds go wrong
Common areas are the classic tragedy of the commons. Everyone can see the grass getting long, nobody individually owns the problem, and by the time it reaches an AGM it's become a grievance rather than a task.
The other failure mode is a contractor appointed years ago whose scope nobody can now find, doing a bit less each visit while the invoices stay the same. Residents notice; the committee has nothing written down to point at.
Both are fixed by the same thing: a written scope, a fixed price, and a schedule everyone can see.
One contact, not a committee
We'll take instructions from one nominated person. That's not us being difficult — it's the only arrangement that works. Without it we get three residents asking for three different things, and the committee gets an invoice nobody approved.
What we will do is talk to residents on site, politely, and pass anything substantive back to your contact rather than acting on it. If a resident wants their own courtyard done, that's a separate private job and we'll quote them directly rather than putting it on the body corporate's bill.
Where the boundary sits
The most common source of confusion at complexes is what counts as common property versus what belongs to an individual unit. We'd rather nail that down at quoting than discover it mid-visit.
- Usually common: entrance verges, shared lawns, communal paths, visitor parking, boundary strips, the berm
- Usually not: fenced private courtyards, individual patios, planter boxes belonging to a unit
- Ask us: anything ambiguous. A marked-up site plan takes ten minutes and prevents years of argument
Budgets and AGMs
Body corporate spending runs on an annual budget, so a quote arriving in the wrong month is useless. Tell us when your financial year runs and when the AGM is, and we'll give you an annual figure you can actually put in front of owners — not just a per-visit rate they'd have to multiply themselves.
If you need a written scope of works to compare against other quotes, ask. It's reasonable and we'd rather be compared on like-for-like than lose to someone quoting less because they've quietly excluded the edges.
| Property types | Townhouse blocks, apartment complexes, retirement units, gated developments |
|---|---|
| Point of contact | One nominated person — manager, chair or appointed owner |
| Typical frequency | Fortnightly Oct–Apr, monthly over winter |
| Pricing | Fixed per visit, plus an annual figure for your budget |
| Invoicing | To the body corporate or its manager, monthly |
| Scope | Written and agreed before we start, so residents can see it |
| Private unit areas | Quoted separately to the resident, never on the BC invoice |
We take pride in every job— big or small!
Common questions
Can you give us a figure for the annual budget?
Yes, and you should ask every contractor for one. A per-visit rate is hard to compare and easy to under-budget once you account for the extra summer visits. Tell us your financial year and we'll set it out annually.
Will you provide a written scope of works?
Yes. It's the single most useful document a committee can hold — it settles what's included, and it makes competing quotes genuinely comparable.
What if individual owners want extra work done?
We'll quote them directly as a private job. It never goes on the body corporate invoice unless your nominated contact has approved it.
Do you have public liability insurance?
Ask us directly and we'll tell you exactly where it stands in writing. Any body corporate should require a certificate of currency before appointing a contractor to work in shared areas where residents and visitors are moving around — don't take anyone's word for it, ours included.
Can you work around residents and parked cars?
Yes, that's normal at a complex. Weekday mornings tend to have the fewest cars in visitor parking. If a car blocks an area we'll do what we can reach and mention it rather than leave it unremarked.
Our current contractor has been slipping. Can you take over?
Yes. Start with a written scope of what you actually want, then compare. If the grounds have been let go, the first visit may be a catch-up priced separately — see overgrown recovery.
Do you do the car park and paths as well?
Yes. At most complexes the mossy visitor car park and the green communal path do more damage to how the place looks than the grass does. Waterblasting can be scheduled annually alongside the mowing.
Related:
Get in touch today
Free quotes.
Fast response.
Send the details through and we'll come back to you with a price — usually the same day.
Or just call — if we're on a job, you'll get a call back.