Every MCST has the same three parties involved in getting a job done: the Managing Agent (MA), the council members, and the vendors. The MA coordinates, the council decides and approves the spending, and the vendor does the work. None of them can finish a job alone, and each one is waiting on the other two at some point.
A Collaboration Tool for Estate Management, Not Just a Documentation Tool
That’s why Basementgrid focuses on the actions each party has to take, and not only on documentation and record keeping. A fault gets reported, someone checks it, the vendor sends a quotation, the council approves, the work gets done, and the MA verifies it. Every step has an owner, and the app shows that person what they need to do next. We’re a collaboration tool first. The records are a result of people doing their part, not the goal.
How an MCST Work Order Moves Between MA, Council and Vendor
Take a leaking pipe in the basement carpark. The building manager logs the fault and does an initial check. The MA picks a vendor and asks for a quotation. The vendor sends it, linked to that fault check. The council reviews it with the photos and the evaluation in front of them, and approves. The vendor does the work and uploads proof from site. The MA verifies it and closes the job. Nobody has to dig through emails or scroll a chat group to find out where things stand.
We went this way because of three problems we kept running into.
Why CMMS Software Only Solves Half the Problem for MCSTs
Most of them are built for the MA, the building manager and an internal tech team. Very few MCSTs have the budget for an internal tech team. So the building manager ends up doing extra work to feed the system, while the vendors and council aren’t in it at all. After a while nobody uses it, and the team is back to spreadsheets and chat groups.
Why WhatsApp Photos Fail as Proof of Work
They aren’t GPS verified, so there’s no way to confirm where a photo was taken. They can’t be archived for future reference. And when the MA or council members change, the photos disappear with the old phones and chat groups. A year later, a new council can’t see what was done, when, or by whom. That matters when you’re deciding whether to repair something again or replace it. We wrote more about why vendor proof of work and record keeping keep falling through.
Why MCST Maintenance Works Get Delayed
Most MCSTs need a majority vote for amounts above the threshold, so approvals take time. Vendors forget to send the quotation. And when a quotation arrives by email with no reference to the original fault check and initial evaluation, the MA can’t tell what it’s for and has to chase. None of these is anyone being lazy. They’re gaps between people who all have other things to do.
Shared Responsibility Between MA, Council Members and Vendors
We don’t think any one party should carry all the record keeping or photo taking. Everyone depends on everyone else, so everyone shares the responsibility. The vendor takes the photos on site, and the MA reviews the work and approves it. The council can then make payment with confidence, because they can see the MA’s approval alongside the proof of work. When the burden is spread out, no single person becomes the bottleneck, and nobody is stuck cleaning up after the others. This is also why council members often take the blame when requests fall through. The required actions are mapped into the work process in the app, so nobody has to remember whose turn it is. See how it works.
Estate Maintenance Is a Feedback Loop, Not a Linear Process
Maintenance also doesn’t end. A lift gets serviced, then it needs servicing again. A defect gets fixed, then something else shows up. A linear process that starts with a fault and stops at payment doesn’t fit that, so we built the work process as a feedback loop. What happens on one job, such as the history, the quotation and the proof of work, feeds into the next one. Over time the estate builds up a record that belongs to the MCST, not to whoever happens to be managing it that year.
Fix the Process, Not the People
When a job goes wrong, the usual reaction is to blame the MA, the vendor, or the council. Most of the time the real problem is that nobody set up the steps clearly, and each party assumed someone else would handle it. Fix the process, not the people.
Ready to try it with your MCST?
Create a workspace and invite your MA, council members and vendors, or book a demo and we’ll walk you through a real job from fault report to sign-off.