Fix the process, not the people

When things go south in an MCST, the council usually changes the managing agent. They start afresh with a new one.

Why changing your managing agent doesn’t fix your MCST

Everything starts out well. The building manager is on the ball. Inspections happen regularly. Work requests get a quick response. The council hears from the BM often. Everyone is happy.

Then familiarity sets in. Standards slip.

Common MCST management problems after the honeymoon period

Work requests get delayed or ignored. Some get priority just because the owner sits on the council. The BM signs off without checking if the work is done. Vendors carry out work above the threshold amount, with no formal approval from the majority of voters.

Residents start to feel targeted. They are told they can’t do something that their neighbours get away with. When issues aren’t settled quickly, the frustration builds. It then turns on the managing agent, or on neighbours.

Eventually the council changes the managing agent again. The cycle repeats. Only the actors are new. The plot is the same.

What 50 Singapore MCSTs taught us about estate management

At Basementgrid, we have studied over 50 MCSTs. What we found is consistent. Changing the people doesn’t solve the problem. It just passes it to the next council and the next managing agent.

So we built an app to fix the process first. We borrowed from how corporations work. A process keeps things moving. Within it, each person still has room to use their judgment.

Why an MCST needs a process: there is no founder or CEO

A company has a founder or a CEO. This person holds the vision and the know-how. Even when staff change, the way of working stays.

An MCST has no such person. The council changes every year or two. Each new committee starts from zero. Whatever the last council knew often leaves with them.

That is why an MCST needs a process. The process holds the knowledge. It lets the estate be managed properly day to day. It also lets the estate be handed over easily to the next committee.

MCST handover: developers hand over the estate, not the process

The first MCST is created by the developer. At that point, the developer’s job is to hand the estate over to the residents. Whether a management process exists is not their concern.

So the first council inherits a building with no playbook. They have to work it out as they go.

Basementgrid gives developers a way to change that. We provide the guidelines for managing estate maintenance, built into an app. The developer hands over the estate with a working process already in place.

Is the managing agent responsible for improving the process?

You might think so. It seems reasonable that the managing agent should put the process in place.

In most cases we have seen, that doesn’t happen. The managing agent is contracted to manage. They come in to do the management part. Improving the way things are done is rarely part of the scope, so it gets overlooked.

A corporation works differently. Employees are part of the company. They suggest ways to improve the workplace and the process. They have a stake in how things run.

A contracted party has a different mindset. The same goes for most vendors. They focus on delivering the service. They feel they are paid for what they do, and nothing more.

So the initiative has to come from someone else. Council members are the natural choice. It is their estate. If they want it run better, they can make the change themselves.

Estate maintenance app for MCSTs: Basementgrid vs iCondo

iCondo focuses on community, with facility bookings and visitor management. Basementgrid digitalises the estate maintenance process. Every job is tracked and recorded. Responsibilities are clear. If something is delayed or mismanaged, you can trace it back through an immutable activity log.

Setup takes about 3 minutes. Each role has the minimum it needs to do. Work orders are created and completed by different roles, so no one person controls the whole job.

MCST management for volunteer councils and small managing agent teams

We also kept the reality of MCSTs in mind. Council members are volunteers. A managing agent is often just one or two people running an estate of over 500 residents. So Basementgrid has built-in reminders and deadlines. Work doesn’t fall behind quietly. When delays happen, they are on record.

Council members: fix your estate’s process now

Don’t wait for the next managing agent to slip. Don’t wait for the next complaint to reach your inbox.

The estate is yours. The process is yours to set up. And the sooner it’s in place, the easier the next handover will be.

Here is how to start:

1. Pick one recurring problem. It could be delayed work requests, or vendor work done without approval.
2. Raise it at your next council meeting.
3. Set up Basementgrid in 3 minutes and run that one process through the app.

You don’t need to change anyone. You only need to change how the work gets done.

Start with Basementgrid today →