In the financial services industry, property strata management has long been considered a very attractive field to get into. Any building where there are multiple owners must establish an Owners Corporation to manage the routine affairs affecting the common amenities of the building and its surrounds.
It is standard practice for owners corporations to appoint an external manager to handle these responsibilities. Network Pacific Strata Management is one such OC management provider. Established for 27 years, Network
Pacific has an extensive portfolio of OC’s under management and recently has franchised its business, allowing new people to enter the industry in a highly supportive manner and take over operational control of a portfolio of OC contracts.
The newest franchisee to join Network Pacific is a business duo of Min and Selina. So, Business Franchise Australia set out to find what attracted them to this franchise and what has their experience been like.
“At first we were somewhat nervous,” says Min. “We knew very little about owners corporations and so starting out was a big learning curve for us. Network Pacific’s managing director, Stephen Briffa fully understood our apprehensions and went out of his way to help and guide us.
“Network Pacific’s induction is formally structured and very well thought out. We spent a lot of time at their offices meeting their people and seeing first-hand how OC management works. We were given real live OC contracts and shown how to carry out each of the dozens of routine tasks and procedures.”
Comparing Network Pacific to other similar franchises, Min says, “Previously, we looked at other alternative pathways into the OC management business, but only Network Pacific showed us how it could work for us.
Some others are based on geographic territories, but this does not really work in this industry as many of the new contract opportunities are repeats or referrals from developers and builders. These developers can take on new projects in any location, so being tied to a territory would limit our ability to grow our business.
“Our franchise with Network Pacific is portfolio-based, which we own, and the opportunities to grow our portfolio are virtually limitless,” says Min. “In fact, since we started in 2021, we have already added five new OC contracts to our portfolio and expect to increase this by 10% every year. As a result, both our profitability and our capital
value are steadily increasing every year.”
Speaking of the support they received at the beginning, Min again refers to Network Pacific’s Stephen Briffa. “As I said, Stephen was extremely supportive of us during our investigative, due diligence stage. We were even given a ‘try before you buy’ trial period where we literally worked in the business for a week before we made any commitment to go ahead with the franchise. This gave us great confidence that we, as newcomers to this industry, would not only be suited to this work, but also that we would find it satisfying and enjoyable on a day-to-day basis.
“This exercise, of course, was a two-way street. Network Pacific was investigating us as we were investigating them. They even did a personality profile on us to assess our suitability for this franchise. Luckily for them and for us, this exercise showed us to be suitable, so we are all confident that there is a two-way good fit with this company and this type of work.”
Min then explained the steps leading to signing up to buy the franchise. “Although it was a somewhat lengthy process before we signed the franchise agreement” says Min, “we had plenty of time to arrange our finance to make the purchase. This is critical, and we were able to seek our independent advice on strong, detailed documentation that was provided to us by Network Pacific. In fact, the level of detail, especially in terms of
actual OC contracts we were buying made obtaining our finance so much easier.
“And because our portfolio comprises OC contracts that are already in place, we actually had a guaranteed income stream from Day 1.This really impressed our bankers and was a huge comfort to us as we started out.”
So, in summary, Min and Selina have a longterm, financially stable and secure franchise that they are easily able to grow by simply building good relationships with their current clients. And Network Pacific has a carefully
selected franchisee whose credentials have been tested and who are on their way to long term financial success.
It’s a win-win all round.